
Class BT3 7 

Book ,Q 3 

Copyright^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Jesus 
The King of Truth 

A SERIES OF LESSONS 
FOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS 



By 



REV. C Sf 1 BEARDSLEE, D. D. 

Professor in Hartford Theological Seminary 



HARTFORD, CONN., 

THE HARTFORD SEMINARY PRESS 
1904 



LIBRAHY cf CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

NOV 4 19U4 
Cowrignt Entry 

ass #/ XXc, No; 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1904 
C. S. BEARDSI^EIv 



CONTENTS 



Preface 
I. 
II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XL 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 



A Trusty, Truth-Loving Child 
Truth and Trust Assailed 
Honesty in Worship 
Teaching a Teacher . 
Truth in a Racy Dialogue 
Truth Facing a Pharisee . 
Jesus and Beelzebub 
Befriending Outcasts 
Fasting Honestly 
Facing Scorn 
Clean Hypocrites 
Telling Painful Truth 
The Truth About Man's Majesty 
The World's True Light . 
How Truth Emancipates . 
Facing the Father of Lies 
Facing a Lying Verdict . 
How to Foil Sly Friends . 
Facing Spies 



Page 

7 
10 

14 
18 
22 
26 
30 
34 
33 
42 
46 
50 
54 
58 
62 
66 
70 

74 
73 
82 

5 



Contents 



Page 

XX. The Truth About Honor ... 86 

XXI. The Truth About Hospitality . . 90 

XXII. Weighing an Empty Phrase . . 94 

XXIII. How Truth Shines in Penitence . 98 

XXIV. Truth as the Girdle of Prayer . . 102 
XXV. The Truth About Babes ... 106 

XXVI. Truth Fingering a Snare . . no 

XXVII. A Typical Intrigue . . . . 114 

XXVIII. Peter's Lie 118 

XXIX. Proving an Innocent a Criminal . 122 

XXX. The King of Truth .... 126 

Review Studies 130 



PREFACE. 

I 

The Theme of these lessons is Truth — the 
Truth as it rings and shines in Jesus Christ. Here 
is something sovereign. Only one other theme 

can stand by its side as its worthy companion, its 
eternal peer. That companion theme is Love. 

And Love, as it glows and pleads in Jesus Christ, 
should be the topic of a following course. 

The glory of this Truth is flashing up everywhere 
in Christian Scripture. And it is the aim of these 
lessons to so train a scholar's eye that he shall not 
miss the vision of it, wherever it shines. But its 
fullest radiance streams in those Gospel scenes 
where Jesus Christ Himself, Son of Mary, Son of 
God, works out His earthly ministry. 

These living Gospel scenes, one by one, form the 
lessons. They are chosen for this course for four 
strong reasons: They are the real Biblical units. 
They move along the open plain of familiar things. 
They guide to profound and fundamental verities. 
Thev are all astir with life. 



II 



The method of these lessons is Realistic. These 
scenes are real. Let the handling of them have 
reality. Every scene is full of action. Let it 
act. Tell it all as Peter would. Feel it all 

as Jesus did. Be in earnest, just as the Phari- 

7 



8 Preface 

sees were. Passions, pure and base, are burn- 

ing in all those little Gospel dramas. Kindle 

them again. Human hearts were thrilling there 
by Christ. Set them thrilling now. Every les- 
son is full of power. Stir it up. Get aroused. 
Treat its facts as facts. Be reverent, of course. 
But be fair. Be simply fair. Unlimber every 

Gospel energy. Unmuffle every Gospel voice. 

Make their animation evident. 

Ill 

Then your class will kindle. This is the way 
of children. Notice how all young people make 
past scenes live again. Hear them tell of ball- 
gameSj picnics, parties, vacations, entertainments. 
They are instinctively dramatic. Have them do 
just the same, and just as much with these Gospel 
scenes. Make thern see and feel how real and 

honest all those recitals are. Then win each 

scholar to an easy, free account of what he sees. 
Aim for utmost honesty. Make levity and sham- 
ming and cant abhorrent. Get every syllable to be 
sincere. Make them feel continually the shining 
presence of the glorious, solemn, friendly King of 
Truth. 

IV . 

In each lesson decide Just what to do. 

First, talk all the lesson through. Name each 
point, making every feature shine and thrill. 

Then, on the following Sunday, win each scholar 
to reproduce some part in his own free way. 

Thus, at every session the scholars will deal with 
a brief review; and the teacher will open something 
new. 

Then, let every seventh lesson be a full rehearsal 
of the preceding six. Recite memory passages 



Preface Q 

in unison. Have each scholar name and illustrate 

some plain.. Strong phase of Truth. 

All the while, make careful use of the blank space 
at the end of every iesson. Fill it in with helpful 
hints from history, literature, newspapers, your own 
daily life. 

From first to last, keep patient, and industrious, 
and brave, resolved to manifest and magnify the 
Lord. 



LESSON I 

A Trusty, Truth-Loving Child 
Luke 2: 41-52 

1. Jesus was trusty. Fancy this scene. It is 
a great feast in Jerusalem. The city is thick with 
throngs. They have gathered from all the land. 
It comes time to go home. As they set out, fel- 
low-villagers and neighbors draw together. Im- 
agine this. 

(a) Fix your eye on Jesus and His parents. 
Mary and Joseph move homeward in the familiar 
cavalcade. Jesus is nowhere in sight. But this 
starts no fear; for they know His safe and orderly 
ways. The long day through, they push on, think- 
ing that in due time Jesus will come to view. But 
the day's full length is spent, and the boy has not 
been seen. Then they start to search, and discover 
that he has stayed behind. 

(b) The full day's journey, with Jesus nowhere 
in sight, shows that Jesus has come to be known as 
a reliable boy. He has never been roving and 
restless and irresponsible. He can be trusted out 
of sight all day. He is not a boy to deceive or 
disappoint. He has His mother's confidence. 
He is true. 

(c) Think of this. Think of it as a habit; as a 
purpose; as a reputation; as an asset. Talk it over 
with your class. Treat it eagerly. Make it real. 
Get the class to talk. 

10 



The King of Truth II 

B« Ho was found among teachers. Push into 

this. What does it signify? What is the boy's 
main drift? Leave llim to go His chosen way, 

and lie chooses to go among wise men. He is 

eager mentally. His soul is athirst. He courts 

the company of men who think. 

(a) See how His eagerness works. He listens. 
This is tine. He is an open, wondering, acquisitive 
boy. 

(b) And He questions. He pushes up and 
makes pointed inquiries. 

(c) And He thinks. The Rabbis wonder at 
His understanding. He uses His judgment. He 
puts ideas together. He is sharp to see how their 
words agree. 

(d) And they are quizzing Him, and He is giving 
answers — answers that make the teachers wonder. 
Clearly He is a bright and thoughtful boy, alive to 
get the truth. 

(e) Think of such a boy. Try to show Him to 
your class. See His beauty, value, charm. 
Think of teaching such a boy. Which has the 
higher dignity, a teacher or such a child? Ask 
your class. Love for Truth — what is this in a 
teacher; what is it in a child? 

3. Jesus' loyalty. Study Mary's reproach. She 
thinks Jesus has been faithless to her confidence. 

(a) But weigh the lad's answer: "Why did you 
search? Did you not know?" Get into this. 

Jesus is no truant. He is trusty still. Not for 
one moment has His reliability lapsed. His heart 
beats true. His path runs straight. None who 
know Him should ever think or look to find Him 
anywhere but at His Father's altars, and interests, 
and tasks. If He seems to swing free from the 
bounds of the Nazareth home, it is only to own the 
claims of God in His holy temple. He is still a 



12 Jesus 

faithful child. He shakes His mother's confidence 
for a little, only to make it the more secure. 

(b) Here are deep words. And all their music 
is keyed to Truth. They show the anxious mother 
that her boy's deep heart is plighted in eternal loy- 
alty to God. What a rock of confidence! Try 
to make its simple grandeur plain to all your class. 
Describe the scene. Show it as a picture. Make 
it live. Get the class to do this. They can do 
it beautifully — every one. Suffer them to make 
it real. 

4. His later faithfulness. Jesus left the temple 
and went to live in Nazareth, long years of dutiful 
life. The child of Mary has declared His fealty 
to God, only to become again ideally the son of 
Mary. His loyalty to His parents is not a bit 

disturbed; it is only confirmed. It rests and plays 
with easy, joyful liberty within His loyalty to God. 
Thus He lives — true to the primary laws of life. 

And so He grows in wisdom. Mark this. In 
the growing boy, expanding into man, Truth deep- 
ens, strengthens and expands. He does not idle 
mentally. His intellect is astir, alert, aroused, 

employed. He grows. His increase is not alone 
in carnal bulk. He grows in mental wealth and 
breadth and energy. So He makes toward man- 
hood. 

Such was Jesus as a boy — trusty, Truth-loving, 
loyal to God and home. In His fair life fidelity 
found early residence. In His growing years loy- 
alty and wisdom grew free and strong. In all the 
reaLn of Truth He was its first-born Prince. 



The King of Truik l3 

Just what to do. 

i. Get the class to be natural and earnest. 

2. Talk about a mother's heart. 

3. Talk about a trusty boy. 

4. Talk about an eager boy. 

5. Talk about a loyal boy. 

6. Find illustrations of fine reliability. 

7. Commit to memory Ps. 84: 1-4. 



l4 Jesus 



LESSON II 

Truth and Trust Assailed 
Matt. 4: 5-7 

1. Dig into Satan's scheme. 

(a) His Pretense. He made out to be Jesus' 
friend. He saw Jesus in the wilderness, alone and 
long unfed. He knew that such a lot must be bit- 
ter and hard. He could see that some open sign 
of God's faithful love would be a welcome thing. 
So he cited those words in Ps. 91 about God's care 
through angels; and he suggested that Jesus leap 
from a lofty pinnacle into a deep abyss, so that God 
could send some strong, swift angels to bear Him 
up in the fall and save Him from any bruise. This 
would prove God's Love and Truth. God would 
keep His word; and Jesus would have therein deep 
comfort and new trust. This was the Devil's pre- 
tense. 

(b) Now see his Trick. His real aim was to 
get Jesus into an ugly fix. If Jesus should refuse 
to leap, and so gain fine proof of God's reliable care, 
then He would have to go on still longer in the 
desert, roaming in hunger and solitude. In that 
case it would seem most unlikely to anybody that 
Jesus was God's loved Son. But if He should leap 
off into the deep, just to test and see if God's prom- 
ise would hold true, that would imply that Jesus' 
mind was craving proof of God's trustworthiness. 
Here is a Devil's trap. Satan is trying to force 
Jesus into doubt — doubt about His own Sonship, 



The King of Truth 1 5 

doubt about His heavenly Father's veracity. God's 
Truth and Christ's trust are at stake. Here is a 

deep game. On its face all seems fair. But 

down within lies spread a crafty snare. 

Picture this all out. Get free and nimble about 
it. Tell it as a story, like a child. Have the 
children try. Get them awake. Make them see. 
Then let them describe what they see. 

2. Now dig into Jesus' reply. 

(a) He gave the Devil's sly insinuations a ring- 
ing blow full in the face by saying: "You must not 
tempt God." His naked, untried word stands 

solid and true. I have no idea of trying His prom- 
ise, to see if it will hold. His faithfulness is all 
about me now. I have no need to leap into an 
abyss to see. God's word is true every way, al- 
ways, everywhere. I know I am His Son. I 
know He is my Father. I know I stand in His 
care. I decline to distrust His faithfulness, or to 
disown my nature. My lot is lone and hard, in- 
deed. But I simply suffer and trust and wait. 

Here is a royal confidence and calm; and they 
rest in the pure verity of God. God is True. To 
that Truth Jesus holds. This is all. 

3. Here is a battle royal. Show up the two 
contestants — Jesus, the King of Truth; the Devil, 
the Father "of Lies. The Devil trying his best to 
dislodge Jesus from His confidence in God; Jesus 
refusing to stir from His trust a single inch. The 
Devil trying to reduce everything to anxiety, un- 
certainty, debate; Jesus holding fast by the reliabil- 
ity of God without a tremor or quiver of doubt. 
The Devil insisting that God's fidelity is dubious, 
unless full proof is in plain view; Jesus declaring 
roundly that God's word is safe right through the 
longest distress without a single sign. 

Here is a profound contention. Hordes of peo- 
ple today take Satan's side. Some agree with 



1 6 Jesus 

Christ. This is a vital matter. It deals with 
vital Truth. Do you see how kingly Jesus is? 

4. Point out sharply Satan's fatal weakness. 

(a) He is secretly insincere. He does not mean 
a thing he says. He trades in lies. He is a 
knave. This is a shaky position, especially when 
grappling Christ. 

(b) He has to play from cover. He dare not 
come out into the sunshine. He cannot be frank. 
This is a risky method, especially under those two 
eyes of Christ, 

(c) He really trifles with God's word. He 
does not honestly honor it. He is actually aiming 
to bring it into contempt. But no such tactics 
can prevail with Jesus. With all His heart and 
soul He puts His trust in God. He is God's Son. 

Untruth is inherently weak. 

5. Now see Jesus' inimitable strength. He is 
deeply honest. He means every word He utters. 
He hates a lie. His words ring true. This 
makes Him invulnerable. He cannot be caught. 

He stands in open light. He is frank. He 
is concealing nothing. 

He deeply, fully, cordially trusts in God. He is 
incapable of unbelief. And so He is beyond all 
reach of all anxiety. 

He is a King of Truth. Such an one is inher- 
ently and eternally secure. 



The King of Truth iy 

Just what to do. 

i. Keep the scone honestly real. 

2. Talk about Jesus' solitude and pain. 

3. Talk about the adroitness of Satan's talk. 

4. Talk about pretense. 

5. Talk, as Jesus would, about trusting in the 
dark. 

6. Talk, as Jesus would, about doubting God. 

7. Commit to memory Ps. 91: 9-12. 



1 8 Jesus 



LESSON III 

Honesty in Worship 
John 2: 13-22 

1. Get your mind clear about the temple. Why 
was it built? How is it to be used? What does 
it mean? 

It is God's House. Think about that Glory 

dwelling there above the cherubim. 

It is a solemn place. Think about that cloud 
of incense, hiding that Glory. Why must it be 

hid? 

It is a holy place. Talk about the sacrifices 
offered there for the sins of men. 

It is a precious place. Think of it as a ''meet- 
ing place," where God had fellowship with His peo- 
ple — where people could draw near to God. 

2. But now look in and see what Jesus saw. 
The place of Prayer has become a mart of Trade. 
Shops and stalls encroach upon the altar. Con- 
fession waits on commerce. Prayer delays for 
traffic. Avarice ousts reverence. The clink and 
bustle of exchange make praise impossible. Where 
men should humbly worship, they were chaffering 
hotly for a thrifty trade. 

And yet all this is transacted in the name of the 
holy, unseen God. It all pretends to be the true 
religion. 

3. Xow follow and study Jesus. He is jealous 
for Truth. He is jealous for the honor of His God. 
He is jealous for God's House. This foraging 



The King of Truth 19 

ami trafficking among pretending worshippers He 
- and fools fco be an abhorent desecration. It is 
all inappropriate, perverse. It is an awful counter- 
feit Such insincerity He cannot endure. It has 
become an outright lie. And such a lie stands close 
to blasphemy. Such market din is no true rever- 
ence. Such offerings are a mockery. It is all 
unreal, untrue. 

And so He braids a stinging whip and whales 
them all away. And in a trice the holy courts 

stand clear. However mad the traders get, they 
and all their traffic go. His whip is hot. He 
stands for God. His onset cannot be stayed. 

Behold here the splendid vigor and authority of pure 
Truth. When her patience finally ends, and all 
her power is aroused, she is imperial. 

Here is an enterprise worthy of your noblest 
fancy. Imagine this fine scene. Key your heart 
and thought to the thought and heart of Christ. 
Set all your children at this task. They will do 
it well. And it will guide them into a splendid 
discipline of their spiritual sense of reverence and 
honesty. 

4. Now ferret out the secret of these traders' 
cowardice and impotence. They were a mongrel, 
futile horde. Why did they submit? Why did 
they weakly suffer Jesus to spoil their traffic, stop 
their gains, scatter their broods and herds and coins? 

It was all because their business was based on 
falsehood. They were turning the temple aside 
from its true use. They had no honest standing- 
ground. They were traitors to the high honor of 
God's House. This fact fought against them. 

And they had no defense. Hence they surrender- 
ed and fled. 

5. And what kindled Jesus' bravery and fire? 
He was aflame with honesty. Sincerity burned in 
Him like a fire. He was zealous for pure Truth. 



20 Jesus 

The temple was for God and for prayer. This fine 
verity was His inspiration. And it was His bul- 
wark. He was entrenched in heavenly integrity. 
He stood and fought for fundamental propriety. 
Greed and barter are out of place in Jehovah's Sanc- 
tuary. This truth was His sharp sword. Men 
were strewing the temple pavements with the litter 
of a market-place. Such a profanation is a shame- 
ful violation of God's sanctity. This patent fact 
formed the sting in every thong. Hence His 

heart was hot, His arm was swift, His rush was ir- 
resistible. 

6. Now picture to your eye the scene, when all 
is done. The temple stands untenanted, undefiled. 
All traffic is swept clean out. The ancient Sanc- 
tuary stands forth in clear, unhindered revelation of 
all the simple, solemn grandeur of the House of 
God. The Father's presence is its supreme reality. 
It shines in the full beauty of this pure truth. No 
falsehood obscures its glory. It stands untarnish- 
ed, the pure instrument of the real worship of the 
true God. It is no more a counterfeit. It is the 
fair shrine of Truth. 

And now picture Jesus entering its radiant courts, 
an honest worshipper. How genuine and without 
iill guile will be His adoration and His prayer. 
Dwell long on this. And freely engage your 

class. Honest worship — think of it. False wor- 
ship — think of this. Here is a needed lessoa 
for many a Sunday-school. 



The King of Truth 21 

Just what to do. 

i. Keep in mind the majesty and glory of God's 
I louse. 

2. Talk about the meaning of sacrifices. 

3. Talk about trade and greed in worship. 

4. Talk about honesty in worship, prayer, etc. 

5. Talk about the fire and power of Jesus' sin- 
cerity. 

6. Talk about forgetting God in His House. 

7. Keep your eye all the while on those traders. 

8. Commit to memory Ps. 15. 



22 Jesus 



LESSON IV 

Teaching a Teacher 
John 3: 1-16 

1. Study Nicodemus. 

He respected Jesus. He called Jesus Teacher. 
He confessed that God was with Jesus. He ad- 
mitted that Jesus did wonderful things. He sought 
out Jesus and came to Him. 

He was evidently a thoughtful man. The deeds 
and mission of Jesus set him pondering and wonder- 
ing. And his thinking has made him ready to 
have a talk. 

But he had no clear errand. His mind seems 
dim, at least not earnest, not avid. 

And his mind does not seem to be nimble and 
lucid. He gets soon perplexed. Difficulties trou- 
ble. He is prone to roam in regions of doubt. 

So he seems interested in Truth; he seems to 
wish to find the Truth. But he seems sluggish 

and clumsy in getting hold of Truth. 

Study this case carefully. Have you scholars 
like him? What will you say of his earnestness? 
Is it moral; or is it empty mental curiosity? How 
would you define moral earnestness? Is he honest 
as a scholar? Is his eagerness after Truth su- 

preme? 

2. Now see how Jesus handles such a man. 

To start with, Jesus fixes on a theme. He does 
not merely talk. Here is a primary sign of real 
respect for Truth. 



The King of Truth 23 

He fastens on a theme that is deeply vital — be- 
ing new-born. This shows inwrought sincerity. 
There is lure no trifling or shamming. 

And He breaks open the theme with God-like 
Vigor. Me makes it deal with life, with heaven, 

with hope, with doom. 

And He is not for an instant vague or indirect. 

He makes straight for Nicodemus: "Verily I say to 

thee." Jesus is not impersonal, abstract. He 

ucrete. personal. With Him Truth has to do 

with Life, priceless, immortal Life. 

And He girds His avowal with a "verily." His 
word is verity. His assertions open with an 

"amen." 

Thus these two men, both teachers, stand greet- 
ing. Get your thinking clear, as you look on. 
Here are two thoughtful men. Both. profess to be 
devotees of Truth. How do they resemble, each 
the other? How do they differ? Study on this; 
and finish your estimates to the very edge. Which 
teacher of the two would you care to imitate? 
Precisely, why? Keep both in mind as teachers. 
Show them, as teachers, to your class. Chisel out 
a true description of Jesus as a devotee of Truth. 
How plain and full the picture can be made! Try 
the task on Nicodemus. How dim and void it has 
to be left! 

3. But now watch Nicodemus, as a scholar, under 
Jesus' hand. See him falter and query and col- 
lapse. This thought of being new-born dazes 
him. How can a full-grown man become an un- 
born infant? That is a mystery. All is dark. 

But get clear. He really reverses Christ's "ver- 
ily." In his dazed mind Truth can find no clear 
and spacious dwelling place. 

And he seems impervious. After Jesus re- 

states and strengthens and illustrates His assertion, 
Nicodemus still stumbles at its mystery. His eye 






24 Jesus 

seems blind. He does not see "how" such things 
can be. He is surely dull. He is almost obsti- 
nate. Christ's light is dark. Christ's Truth is 
nothing but a riddle. 

4. Here is a rare chance to study Jesus. See 
how He treats a stagnant soul. See how He acts, 
when His teaching and veracity and authority are 
challenged or mildly defied. 

To start with, He doubles His "verily." Then 
He reiterates His claim. And as He reiterates, 
He expands. And He points His word with an 
admonition. And He shields its mystery by point- 
ing to another mystery in the motion of the wind. 
Then He points at Nicodemus' empty arrogance. 
And finally He avers His first-hand heavenly knowl- 
edge and certainty in every word He speaks. All 
this in vv. 5-12. Mark every phrase. They show 
a fine tenacity, a lively jealousy, a stalwart fealty, a 
Godlike fullness and energy in His devotion to 
Truth. 

5* Now survey Jesus' teaching — the exigent, ab- 
solute, spiritual, universal need of being newly-born. 
Here is a truth to study. It reaches deeply into 
mystery. It touches the core and source of life. 
It rings from heaven. It guides into the gates of 
the heavenly kingdom. Its life and breath and 
pure being are spiritual. It shows that fallen man 
may become again true child of God. What a 
truth! 

But it staggered Nicodemus — and he a teacher! 
It bewildered, baffled, puzzled him. He could not 
see. What plain and painful proof of Jesus' word! 
Nicodemus needed to be spiritually new-born. So 
awful and deep-reaching is doubt, when Jesus 
teaches, and man resents His word. 



The King of Truth 25 

Just what to do. 

i. Make your scholars see this scene. 

2. Show how resolute Jesus is. 

3. Show how jealous Jesus is to be believed. 

4. Show how clear Jesus is. 

5. Show how faint and irresolute Nicodemus is 

6. Show Up Xicodemus' unbelief. 

7. Show what Nicodemus should have done. 

8. Handle Truth, Doubt and Faith with all your 
might. 

g. Talk about Paul before Festus. Acts 26. 



2,6 Jesus 



LESSON V 

Truth in a Racy Dialogue 
John 4: 1-26 

1. Look at this woman through Jesus' eye. 

(a) Her life is profitless. It is an endless, aim- 
less waste. She toils and tires. She rests and toils 
and tires again. This tiresome trudge to this an- 
cient well is a sample of it all. She is thirsty, and 
must go perforce to draw a cooling drink. But it 
is only for an hour. At night she will tire and 
thirst again. 

So with all her workaday life. It is a vain 

monotony. She is a menial. Her toil is nought. 
All runs to waste. She has no sense of the spring 
and beauty and bloom of things immortal. The 

boon of endless life is all unseen, forgot. 

(b) But in verity she is immortal. She is fitted 
for joys that will never stale. Springs flow, if she 
could only find them, that would slake her thirst for- 
evermore. 

(c) All this lay clear in Jesus' eye, as He looked 
into her flushed face and felt her burdened step. 
Get it all to shine and live in your own eye — a clear 
vision, a great pity, a high hope. Be sure to see it 
all. And be pitiful. Jesus has no reproach for 
her quest of water and rest. He is resting there 
Himself, and pleading too for a cooling cup. These 
deep-shaded earth-springs serve a blessed ministry 
to labor-burdened mortals. 



The King of Truth ZJ 



But all their cheer is transient; and it freshens 
the body alone. And there is her imperishable 
soul. 1 1 too needs food and rest and pea 

Then she will truly live. Then she will never die. 
This will be water that is "living" indeed. 

(d) \nd note her dullness. She was slow to 
catch His thought. She lingered in the dark. 

She had to he jostled and led and helped. She 

had to creep from dark to dawn, from dawn to day. 
She was not quick and bright to seize and sense the 
Truth.. 

*2. But study Jesus. What a contrast! He 

quick and keen. He stood in light. His 

\i>i<>n was instant and immediate. He understood 

at once the full worth and need of her real life. 

Such is Truth as it shines and lives in Jesus. 

(a) Note His insight. In His eye secret things 
stand uncovered. This woman's past was guilty. 
Her silent, wary memory sheltered an unworthy 
life. But Jesus stands for open honesty. Shame 
cannot stay in hiding before His eye. He sees. 
And seeing^ He reveals. And so He makes her 
start and wince and blush, as He calls out the fact of 
her irregular life, and makes her face openly the base 
reality. 

Make 'this scene glow. There lies the truth — 
den, ugly, shameful nest. There cow r ers the 
an's deep reluctance. And there looms the 

firm insistence of Jesus' awful honesty. Show how 
tense and tender a scene it is. Show its truthful- 
ness. Show its sharp-eyed detection, as He enu- 
merates her husbands — one, two, three, four, five — 
and uncovers her present illicit life. Show all the 
height of Jesus' honor, and all the depth of her sad 
ignominy. And show it all, as the action and ef- 
fect of the shining of pure Truth. 

(b) And note Christ's jealous accuracy. She 
said: "I have no husband," That was verbally true. 



28 Jesus 

This Jesus saw and owned. But it was entangled 

with an awful lie. It was only partly true. Jesus 
will have the statement clean and full. lie will 

have no partial truth, no implicated lie. He wants 
the truth. Me wants it all. He wants nothing- 
else. Make this burn. 

3. But now the conference makes a great leap. 
The woman discerns that Jesus is a prophet. This 
diverts her mind to an age-long religious contro- 
versy. It touches a high and solemn theme, Je- 
hovah's worship. It opens into the hot and endless 
feud between Samaritans and Jews. 

At this Jesus propounds three fundamental 
truths: The Jews are preeminent; Locality is not es- 
sential; Spiritual sincerity is the essential thing. 

Hear His resonant words: Ye do not "know"; 
we "know"; "true"' worshippers worship in "Truth"; 
God is real; His reality is not localized; He is Spirit; 
worship of Him, to be real, must be spiritual; such 
worship is "true." 

This is sterling. This is Truth indeed — its 

very eye. Learn to gaze squarely and untiringly 

into its full and bright, unfading reality. Spiritual 
respect for the Spirit-God — this is Truth in its pur- 
est essence, Truth in its finest action. This is 
solid, genuine, real. Dwell within these celestial 
thoughts. Make your home and bed here. This 
will be real discipleship. Here is solid learning. 
Here Jesus is showing Truth in its very throne; and 
that He is worthy to be its King. Tarry here. 
Learn to see and admire and revere. 



The King of Truth ^o 

Just what to do. 

i. Show the genuineness in Jesus' broad good 
will. 

2. Show the counterfeit in the woman's race pride. 

3. Talk about Jesus' straight insight. 

4. Show up the woman's shy evasions. 

5. Talk about the truth in Jesus' view of worship. 

6. Talk about the deep error in the woman's life. 

7. For contrast, describe Alary, as seen in Luke 1. 

8. Commit to memory John 4; 21-26. 



Jo Jesus 



LESSON VI 

Truth Facing a Pharisee 

Luke 7: 36-50 

1. Here is a fine study in truth and error; honesty 
and hypocrisy; sincerity and pretense; concealment 
and disclosure; faith and unbelief. 

To begin with, fix your eye upon the woman. 

(a) List the facts: She was a habitual sinner. 
She was utterly broken and humbled. She admired 
and honored Jesus. She was full of sin, full of sor- 
row, full of eager love and faith and hope. 

(b) Now see her through Simon's eye. 

He judged her black and graceless, void of worth 
or name. He saw no beauty or value or meaning 
in her tears. He saw nothing to commend in her 
high-priced ointment, and its lavish waste on Christ. 
He esteemed her every kiss a contamination and re- 
proach. 

(c) Now try to state truly how she seemed to 
Jesus. 

He saw and noted all her sins, and deemed them 
each and all abhorrent. He saw deep meaning in 
her tears. He noted and prized at high value her 
costly ointment, and her every caress. He saw in 
her full readiness for costly sacrifice. He saw the 
eternal value of her love. He discerned that no 

favor could rank so high with her as heaven's aid to 
remove her sin. And He showed all this by the 
outspoken pledge of free pardon and peace. 

(d) Now here are glaring disagreements. Where 
lurks the error? Where stands the truth? 



The King of Truth 3l 

2, To get your thinking clear, examine Simon. 

(a) lie was the generous host, zealous about pro- 

iv. But his attentions to Jesus as his guest 

were pointedly scant. He bad no kiss. lie gave 

no oil. He even withheld the water lor laving and 

cooling His feet. lie had a keen scent for an- 
other's sin. He was niggardly with bis forbearance 
and love. He seemed to bave no doubt about bis 
own full worthiness to sit in Jesus' company. 

(b) But now trace closely Jesus' judgment on 
Simon's worth. 

He noted and named Simon's every neglect. 

He noted Simon's sin. Mark that pbrase "two" 
debtors, with "nothing" to pay in the parable. 
Jesus plainly classed Simon with the woman as a 
sinner, in need of grace. 

He noted Simon's arrogant hypocrisy — his prone- 
ness to rate others beneath himself. Mark that 

touch of different debts in the parable. Simon, if 
forced to identify himself with one of those two 
debtors, would have given the woman the heavier 
debt. But therein Simon trapped himself in lesser 
love. 

(c) Here again are glaring disagreements. 
Which was true? 

3. Now fix your eye on Jesus. 

(a) He was full of purity, full of gentleness, full 
of honesty, full of heavenly majesty. This the 
scene entire makes clear. 

(b) But see Him as He is seen by that swelling 
host there at the head of the feast. He did extend 
Him courtesy. But he made Him suffer flagrant 
negligence. And he mistook the Master's indul- 
gence of the woman's penitent love. He deemed 
Jesus wanting either in moral insight or earnestness. 
Thus he held the Lord in light esteem. 

(c) And now define the woman's view of Christ. 
She paid Him loftiest honor, lavishing on His per- 



32 Jesus 

son costly wealth. He stirred her heart to its 

deeps, until her feelings broke into a flood. Before 
His majesty the most menial task was weleomed 
and rendered with a welling joyfnlness. 

She knew His searching into all her sin; and the 
burning- sense of I lis holy honesty brought scalding 
tears. 1 i is purity moved in her an abject shame. 

She knew His matchless grace, and found in His 
free forgiveness her supreme reward. He was her 
all. 

(d) Now here again is wide diversity. Which 
is right? 

4, Now study Jesus again. 

He is in all this scene like an unflecked orb of 
light. In His deep and quiet mind lay perfect 

verity. 

(a) He knew the woman perfectly. 

(b) And Simon was an open book, — a dull, 
proud, loveless soul, deserving open detection and 
reproof. 

(c) And He knew Himself — a pure, deep-seeing, 
kingly soul, alert to catch first signs of humble peni- 
tence, and bold to brave a Pharisee. 

(d) Such was Jesus, truthful, faithful, frank, the 
very Prince of accuracy, earnestness and equity. 

5. Such is this quiet scene. It alters, as you 
turn it round and round, like a kaleidoscope. But 
seen through Jesus' eye it all resolves to ordered har- 
mony. Train your eye and tongue to see and tell 
real Truth like Him. 



The King of 7Vufb 33 

Just what to do. 

i. Show all the errors in Simon's view of things. 

2. Show all the truth in the woman's mind. 

3. Talk about Jesus' tnio intelligence. 

4. Talk about the deceitfulness of a hypocrite. 

5. Talk about the deep honesty of grief for sin. 

6. Show Jesus' faithfulnei 

7. How deeply does Truth enter into character? 

8. Commit vv. 44-jS. 

9. Compare the story in John 9. 



34 Jesus 



LESSON VII 

Jesus and Beelzebub 
Matt. 12: 22-32 

1, The cure — the healing of a blind and dumb 
demoniac. Three items are here: Sightless eyes, 
a speechless tongue, a demon. So threefold was 
this poor man's misfortune. Jesus brought full 
healing: Freedom, vision, speech. Think of those 
new floods of light. Think of that new, glad play 
of the nimble tongue, that heavenly artisan of in- 
struction and eloquence. What a happy emancipa- 
tion into a free enjoyment of the rich dowry of 
Truth! It proves Jesus a King indeed, a King in 
the glorious realm of light, a King in the heavenly 
empire of free and reasoned speech, a King of Truth. 

2. Now see how the scribes explain it all. 

(a) They trace the wonder to Beelzebub. And 
they mean it. This is their reasoned explanation. 
Think right straight at this. As though the pri- 
mal marvel of pouring heaven's light into a human 
eye were an invention of Beelzebub! What a phi- 
losophy! And as though the Godlike gift of rea- 
soned speech were a dowry of the Devil! What a 
proposition! And yet these Pharisees offer this 
for Truth! 

(b) But see the access of further nonsense. 
They speak of demons, and of Beelzebub as their 
prince, implying order, authority and rule. And 
then they venture, as a sober judgment, their belief 
that this ejection of a demon sprung from the head 



The King of Truth 35 

of the demon world! Beelzebub casts out his 

own lieutenant! 

(c) And then think sharply of their view of 
Christ. Jesus and Beelzebub march to the same 
music, walk arm in arm, stand hand in hand, see eye 
to eye. 

(d) And finally they dare aver that in their opin- 
ion Jesus, having framed a contract with Beelzebub, 
fulfills iis terms by carrying ruin into his realm! 

Now study this. Scan it keenly. State it 

sharply. Get your class to work through every 

phase of it. Make them show its wicked twist, 

its downright dishonesty, its naked nonsense. 

3. Now see Jesus handle their proposition. 
Watch the high burning of His zeal for Truth. 

(a) Try to see how such a libel would smite and 
sting His guileless, friendly, honest heart. Noth- 
ing could be more irreconcilable with his strenuous 
soul. He and Beelzebub had not one solitary sen- 
timent alike. 

(b^ Xow hear Him argue out His swift retort. 
Note how sane and lucid, how convincing and self- 
evident every sentence and idea is. It is the voice 
of perfect Truth. 

And first He calls upon His foes to answer Him, 
and answer truly. How can Satan cast out Satan? 
Stop right here. Repeat this every way. It is 
one of Jesus' concrete axioms. How can a force 
be at once expelled and entrenched? Fancy Jesus 
searching through their eye and standing silent for 
their reply. 

Such assertions are absurd. They are self- 

evidently false. They are a lie — a patent, unde- 
niable lie. It is absurd — through and through ab- 
surd. It stands self-condemned. It is incurably 
untrue, untrue as a theory, untrue in fact. There 
is in it not a shred or semblance of verity or honesty 



36 Jesus 

or sense. Ring the changes on this every way yon 
can. And make the changes ring. 

(c) And note Jesus' way of meeting their fraud. 
I lis reply involves an argument. It is not so much 
an assertion as an appeal. It addresses one's rea- 
son. He aims to stir up thought. This is vital. 
Jesus is aiming to pry these men's refutation out of 
.their own mouth. This is II is bright, honest, un- 
answerable way. \\ 'hen an unbeliever utters a lie, 
Jesus is prone to lodge that lie in a syllogism and 
show its nonsense. He wrings the truth out of a 
liar, by taking the liar at his word and making him 
blush for it. 

4. But now Jesus makes a round full-voiced avow- 
al of the real Truth. 

(a) His ejection of demons is a strong man's con- 
quest. Jesus stands a virile, triumphant champion. 
Beelzebub is beneath His feet. This is solid, ob- 
vious truth. Any other explanation is untrue. 

(b) And in doing this doughty deed Jesus is act- 
ing as God's right arm. Y\ nen Jesus touches a 
demoniac, omnipotence assails a world of iniquity. 

(c) And the strenuous, inspiring energy is the 
Holy Ghost. He is the dislodging force. Here- 
in the Infinite Trinity stands engaged and agreed 
and effectively revealed. This is solid, solemn 
Truth. With this supreme reality no man may 
lightly trifle. To credit this to Satan is the utter- 
most iniquity. It aims at Truth's complete un- 
doing. It is the absolute folly, the absolute sin, 
and merits the absolute doom. 

(d) Here are ponderous words. But all their 
solid gravity is sterling, imperishable Truth. Such 
is Jesus — a very King. Such is His burnished 
scepter — the very Truth. 



The King of Truth 2j 

do. 

i. State carefully jusl what Jesus did. 

just as carefully how the Scribes explain- 
ed it. 

3. In your own way show up its nonsense. 

4. Track down every inch of Jesus' argument. 

5. Have scholars try to answer Jesus' questions. 

6. Tell the full truth about it all. 

7. Discuss the nature of a lie. 

8. Talk about the nature of a liar. 

9. Commit Matt. 10: 24-33. 

10. Tell the story oi Acts 16: 16-40. 



38 Jesus 



LESSON VIII 

Befriending Outcasts 
Mark 2: 13-17 

1. Here are some more critics. They deem 
themselves spotlessly nice. Publicans are an of- 
fense to anyone at all refined. They are morally 
unwashed and unkempt. No man can keep his 
moral self-respect and mix with them. To eat with 
such is equivalent to sharing in their baseness. So 
they felt. 

But Jesus consented to be a publican's guest. 
He identified Himself intentionally with these grace- 
less outcasts. He made His companionship public. 
He was not morally trim and watchful and strict. 
And yet He made out to be jealous for every true 
decorum. 

Get this clear. Jesus was double-dealing, dis- 
honest, untrue, a misleading moral guide. This 
was their conviction and complaint. 

2, Now mark Jesus' answer. It is short and 
sharp. Use your keenest eye. He speaks of a 
"physician"; He speaks of people who are "whole," 
and of people who are "sick"; and in the heart of 
His simple answer He lodges and leaves an allusion 
to "need"; and deep within it all he hides a sugges- 
tion, all unexpressed, of a cure. 

(a) Now study into that word, "need." It is no 
surface word. It wells up from Jesus' very heart. 
Great currents swirl within. It speaks of a broken 
life, of sad infirmity, of pain : of an appealing cry. 






7Vv King of Truth : >9 



And to Jesus 1 soul it hints toward help and health 
and reestablished happiness. 

Now thmk. Jesus was not a frigid critic. He 
was a tender helper. lie saw In wicked publicans 
moral invalids. He mourned their sin, as a loath- 
some malady. But lie did not merely feel dislike. 
He sought their repair. He tried to purge and 
heal. His hatred of wrongdoing in a publiean was 
no useless sentiment. It was a stalwart, resolute 
endeavor, striving toward reform. 

Here is the core of absolute honesty. He was 
true, when He professed to dislike sin. He was 

also true, when lie mixed with sinners. 

(b) But notice that other form of answer: "I 
have come to eall .... sinners to repentance." 
This needs special study. Here is a part of what 
Jesus means by a "cure." And it is a choice dem- 
onstration of His grand honesty. 

When Jesus saw a sinner, doing or hiding or cher- 
ishing a sin. His whole nature would get astir to win 
that evil doer to repent. To smile at evil deeds, 
t<. hide their face, to simulate innocence is to falsify. 
In the dark heart of all impenitence there lurks an 
awful lie. That lurking, hidden lie, Jesus' outright, 
healthy honesty could not endure. No guilty man 
is innocent. To figure as though an innocent is 
a perversity and sham. It is not honest. Such 

dishonesty Jesus strove to stop. Here is a fine 

outcropping of His elemental honor. 

(c) And this honesty was an energy. It was a 
pushing force. It had fine pressure in it. Noth- 
ing could neutralize or check it. Think this out. 
These Pharisees resisted Him with energy. They 
were highly horrified. They protested. They 

1 all their prestige and social prowess to block 
His ^teps. But He pushed right through. 

This vigor in Jesus' integrity is a noble trait. 
Make sure the scholars feel Christ's push for truth. 



4° Jesus 

Have them show the solid wall of protest lie had to 
lace. Then have them tell how grandly He broke 
it down and strode right on, a free, true man. 

3. Once more these unfriendly Pharisees saw little 
promise in a publican. But just here Jesus' eye 

was full of light. He had a glorious insight. He 
discerned deep worth in outcasts. He carried in 

His friendly eye fair visions of wayward people 
rectified, of unclean people purified, of unworthy 
people glorified. Here is a wonderful realm where 
Jesus reigns alone - a shining range of blessed 
rruth. He alone sees truly what broken men may 
truly be. For these fair revelations these haughty 
Pharisees, like many other men, had no sense, no eye, 
no ear, no heart, no faith. But glorious truths 

just here filled Jesus' eye and heart and faith with a 
supreme conviction. 






The King of Truth 4 1 

Just what to do. 

i. Describe a publican, as these Pharisees would. 

2. Describe a publican, as Jesus would. 

3. Describe a Pharisee, as a Pharisee would. 

4. Describe a Pharisee, as Jesus would. 

5. Describe Jesus, as this publican would. 

6. Describe Jesus, as these Pharisees would. 

7. Show how you would describe all these your- 
self. 

8. Show the gravity of right views in all of this. 

9. Tell the story oi Luke 18: 9-14. 

10. Commit to memory Psalm 32. 



4% Jesus 



LESSON IX 

Fasting Honestly 
Mark 2: 18-22 

1. Here is a study in fasting. To find what 
fasting meant to Jews, study David's fast in 2 Sam. 
12: 14-23, a genuine case; Jezebel's fast in 1 Kings 
21: 9-12, a sham case; and Isaiah 58, a prophet's 
teaching how to truly fast. These scenes show 
that fasting, when honest, was an outer sign of some 
inner grief. But it is also clear that the whole per- 
formance might be a cheat. 

(a) The Jews in Jesus' time fasted very often, 
and with scrupulous care. Read Luke 18: 9-14. 
Get the class to talk about this fasting every Mon- 
day and Thursday. What are the chances that 
such an act will be honest every time? Push the 
discussion till it is earnest and sharp. 

(b) Here is a huge problem. Make your class 
feel it. Show how this same peril — religious dis- 
honesty, — sticks in many another religious rite: e. g. 
praying, singing, rejoicing, mourning. These sen- 
timents and acts may be all a silent, secret and hon- 
est condition of the heart; and they may all be 
counterfeits, an empty, external pretense. 

2. Now study these Pharisees. According to 
their calendar it was time to fast. But Jesus would 
not fast. He paid their solemn custom no respect. 
He allowed His followers to feast and be glad. 

With this these Pharisees found fault. As they 
looked at it fasting was a binding ordinance. And it 



The King of Truth 43 



fell due on certain regular dates. And this Factor 
of dates was primary. Even if at heart men were 
really glad, they ought to seem to be sad. Scruti- 
nize those Pharisees. Sense their essential insin- 
c erit y . 

&, Now hear Christ's retort. He is honest to 
the core. lie deems himself a bridegroom; and 

lie kmnvs that His disciples are Mis loyal, happy 
friends, full of a welling joy. They are in the high 
flood oi heaven's costliest favor. They are moving 
in the pure and quiet revelry of the Messianic mar- 
riage feasts. Their mood is festal. They are full 
>ng and joy. They are in no mood for tears 
and sackcloth. For them to chant a lamentation 
would be a bald hypocrisy. 

Now look into this. It is downright honesty. 
Jesus would not act or countenance any sham. He 
would not permit pretense. He would never con- 
design that His disciples' faces should belie 
their hear Thought and speech, heart and lips, 

must never disagree. The outer surface of their 

jious life must conform to its inner deep. No 

kcloth, no elegies, no fasting as greetings for a 
bridegroom. How sane! How apt! How 

true! 

4. But look again into that word "Bridegroom." 
it shines with finest Truth. It hints at Jesus' su- 
pernal dignity and grace. He is the glorious head 
of a mighty feast. He is the very Lord of Love, 
supremely fair. He is the Saviour Prince of He- 
brew faith, and hope, and longing love. In Him all 
hecy stands evident. Here is Truth indeed, 

solid, precious, powerful. 

But these Pharisees fail to see. They stand in 
shrouds. Darkness and unbelief close their eyes. 
They are ignorant and misled. They have not the 
Truth. Hence their ill-timed query and their ill- 

timed fast. They do not understand the Lord. 



44 Jesus 

Honesty is uncrowned. Pretense and hypocrisy 

hold sway. 

Here is something awful. Jesus must be under- 
stood. In Him is Truth. He fills one's heart 
with honesty. He shows the path of rectitude. 

5. But now give ear to Christ again. Hear Him 
speak of rent and patch, of skin and wine. See 

how His Truth is full of simple common sense. 
Hear Him talk to those twisted Jews. 

(a) Be sensible. Use your wits. Have some 
prudence. You know how to handle wine. Old 
wineskins, you well know, are stiff and set. They 
will not stretch. But new wine, you also know, 
will swell. These homely truths are plain; and 
you walk in their plain light, when you handle wine. 

Well, have the same discreetness when you han- 
dle me. Your ways are like old wineskins, rigid, 
set. My life is new, ever new. Your stiffened 

forms can never hold it. They are bound to burst. 
Your calendar of fasts is out of date. A new regi- 
men is requisite for me. Be sensible. Use your 
wits. Pay heed to facts. 

(b) Then treat the rent and patch in similar fash- 
ion. When an old and well-shrunken garment is 
covered with a patch that has yet to shrink, it will 
either wrinkle or rend. The new and the old do 
not conform. So with Jesus and these Pharisees. 
Here are broad highways of honesty and common 
sense. Train your class to traverse them. 



The King of Truth 45 

Just what to do. 

i. Show the dcop honesty of David's fast. 

2. Show the deep hypocrisy of Jezebel's fast. 

3. Talk about the peril of fixed fasts. 

4. Show up the horror of religious dishonesty. 

5. Imagine Jesus shamming! 

6. Talk frankly about religious honesty. 

7. Show up the mighty fund of Jesus' common 
sense. 

8. Show the havoc of misapprehending Christ. 

9. Commit Is. 58: 6-8. 

10. Read Kipling's Recessional. 



4$ Jesus 



LESSON X 

Facing Scorn 
Mark 6: 1-5 

1. Now Jesus comes again to Nazareth, His child- 
hood home. 

(a) The place wore no engaging guise. And 
Jesus knew it well. And He pondered it most 
soberly. Already within its walls He had framed 
a proverb out of their evident disrespect for what He 
said. He knew their long dislike. He went in 
spite of common, public enmity. He doubtless had 
all too scant assurance of common hospitality. But 
He pressed within, and took His place unasked with- 
in the thronging, familiar synagogue. And there He 
bravely stood and taught. Unbidden, He entered 
the town. Unbidden, He sat among those worship- 
pers. Unbidden, He opened His mouth and taught. 

(b) Here is in the Master the working of an im- 
pulse that needs your eye. He was a devotee. 
Truth in Him was irrepressible. It was bright and 
regal and free. It must be seen. It must be told. 
It must be heard. It could not wait. It was not 
in Him to be backward and shy. He was forward 
and pushing and bold, a very King. 

2, But urgent as was His Truth, it left all hearers 
free. Jesus was a very King. But He did not 
domineer. He faced His listeners with unfailing 
deference. He knew the way of patience perfectly. 
The acceptance, which He ardently desired, He al- 
ways left unforced. Jesus' manifesto is essentially 



The King of Troth 47 

an appeal. [ts guise is gentle. It asks. It 
It argues. It waits. It never drives 
or overwhelms. 

Here rises a study of stupendous moment for any 
class. Be sure it is understood. Jesus' Truth Is 
royal. But Jesus' auditors are free. I lave the 
scholars ponder this. Have them imagine how 

Jesus would teach; how He would plead; how He 
would reason; how He would strive to reconcile; 
how He would fashion many forms and styles of 
statement and illustration, so as to make His message 
fair and plain and strong. Have them picture how 
the Master would stand fast by all He said, though 
all the town should hiss and rail 

3. Now study the crowd's astonishment. Jesus' 
Truth was dignified. It bore plain marks of king- 
line- It ranged far above the measure of a com- 
mon carpenter. This His enemies had to own. 
They were forced to honor what they spurned. 

4. And now regard that proverb in v. 4. Mark 
what a proverb is: A finely chiseled statement of 
something widely true. 

Study into this. Jesus was a sage. In His 
far-seeing eye there sat a thoughtful mind. He 

considered all He saw, and nothing dodged His sight. 
He has a bitter lot. But its bitterness is nothing 
new. It is a common case. Prophets are al- 

ways spurned in their native town. He under- 

stands. And He does not quail or chide or faint. 
He holds still and firm and true. Such is Jesus. 
Even out of contumely He constructs broad Truth. 
In the deeps of hard defeat He finds the deeper ver- 
ities. And out of men's contumacy he draws a 
proverb. This is fine. 

5. Observe the Master's equity. In His imperial 
Truth are stern reprisals. If men contemn His 
plea, then they must face His doom. Sore judg- 
ments follow unbelief, when Truth has had plain 



48 Jesus 

speech. In the realm of Truth,, when men spurn 
light, they forfeit further vision. They are left un- 
tutored. He closed His work and went away. 
Contempt of Truth has dreadful sequels. Jesus 
can be a gentle pleader. But He can also be a ter- 
rible judge. And in either function He stands for 
Truth. Make this solemn verity solemnly plain. 

6. But note the Master's feeling. He "mar- 
velled." It astonished Him that men should doubt. 
He knew His words were beautiful; to spurn them 
showed a pitiful want of good taste. He knew His 
claims were rational; to defy them proved human 
judgment amazingly awry. He knew His affirma- 
tions had imperial authority; to scorn their strength 
was astonishingly unwise. Here is a fertile 
thought. Set your scholars thinking upon the 
wonder of the Lord, as men disdained His word. 
It is a touching revelation of His Truth. 

7. And feel the folly of their want of faith. 
How vain it was! Jesus may pass the gate of 
Nazareth, and meekly go His way. But verily He 
is not dethroned. His patient Truth retains its 
crown. And foolish, futile Nazareth stands 
doomed. 



The King of Truth 49 

Just what to do. 

1. Show what trail in Jesus moved Him into Naz- 
areth. 

2. Show the gentleness of Jesus' zeal for Truth. 

3. Try to show how Jesus would try to be be- 
lieved. 

4. Study into Jesus' calmness, when His hearers 
doubt. 

5. Open up that proverb. 

6. See if you can show why Jesus marvelled. 

7. Talk over the terrible folly of those Nazarenes. 

8. Tell the story of Paul in Acts 22: 1-29. 

9. Commit to memory John 7: 1-9. 



5o Jesus 



LESSON XI 

Clean Hypocrites 
Mark 7: 1-13 

1. Here again Jesus comes under criticism. 
This time it is because His disciples ignore the eti- 
quette of washing hands before eating, when they 
return from market. This was a custom of the 
time, old and revered. In fact it was a mere 
tashion. But men made it a moral duty. It 
was another case of paying solemn heed to empty, 
outer form, and having slight concern for the inner 
heart. 

Try to see this, as those Pharisees saw it. They 
took infinite pains to be good. And they did this 
all most reverently. Antiquity stirred their awe. 

These customs came from a hoary past. They 

were "traditions." They hailed from "elders.'' 

Hence their sacredness. 

2. But see and feel how Jesus judged all this. 
To Him this painful manual daintiness was a tire- 
some fraud. He called it sheer hypocrisy. It 
begun and ended with their hands. They were 
continual ly scanning hands, washing hands, display- 
ing hands, respecting hands. And this was their 
religion — a manual discipline, wholly wanting inner 
honesty. It was full of religious pretense. But 
it was only pretense. 

For such a man Jesus has scant respect. He 
penetrates it all. With Him toilet can never take 
the place of character. No thankless, irreverent 



The King of Truth 5i 

man can screen his heart From God by passing 
through a bath. Towels and wain-, brushes and 

soap do not take awa\ sin. Nor can they cover 

it up. Parade of outer primness can never turn 

God's eye from inner sin. Men need to be deeply 

honest, when they stand before God. Trained lips 
may say line things; but their words may all be lies. 
Such is the talk oi men who find fault with Christ. 
They are Godless hypocrites. Such are Jesus' 

words; and they cut like knives. But they are 

edged with finest tempered Truth. 

3. But now Me searches deeper. Read vv. 9-13. 
Here lie touches the life and duty of a son, citing 
as the normal law the fourth command. He calls 
this law "the word of God." This sovereign word, 
He says, the}' have rendered null by another "tradi- 
tion" of men. 

(a) Study out their scheme. A son may, by a 
formal trick of words, devote his wealth to God, and 
so slip free from any obligation to his father or his 
mother. And this perverse arrangement they 
make reverend by dubbing it a "tradition," and tra- 
cing it to hoary sages of a former day. 

Thus they set a primary earthly obligation at 
nought. Children become unchildlike. Off- 

spring become unnatural. 

(b) And now watch Jesus. See closely what 
lie does. He makes quick work of it. His 
words are short and few. He merely states the 
fact. That is black enough. It condemns itself 
beyond reprieve. He adds one biting word: a 
"beautiful" act! That is the sense of "full well" 
in v. 9. A "beautiful" thing is this you do! By 
a vow to God you break God's law! In a guise of 
deference to God you show God defiance! And 
then you quote "traditions"! Hoary parents are 
thrust away because the rules that warrant the act 



52 Jesus 

are hoary. That is indeed "full well"! A "beau- 
tiful" act! So Jesus exclaims. 

4, Work deeply into this. It is one of the in- 
tensest of all the Gospel scenes. Jesus is on fire. 
And His fervor is kindled by their deceit. He is 
facing a tissue of pure lies. In such an overriding 
of God's prime law of reverence and filial respect, 
no hollow play of words can conjure up an ounce of 
honest worship or esteem. It is all a burning lie. 
Sarcasm is the most befitting retort of an honest 
heart. A "beautiful" thing! A ''beautiful" 

thing! 

Try to feel your Lord's abhorrence. It is all 
an outrage. And He resents it infinitely. In 

His deep, pure, honest, loving heart reigns unalloyed 
sincerity. He profoundly honors God. His love 
for Mary is sincere and strong. He seeks no sub- 
terfuge. He abominates a substitute. This shal- 
low T trick of washing hands is an awful cheat. It 
dodges. It eludes. It is not open and upright. 
It is conceived in treachery. It is vestured in hy- 
pocrisy. ' All its currency is counterfeit. Its ut- 
termost stature is inborn, habitual falsity. And all 
its hoary bulwarks are a pretext. It is through and 
through unreal, ungenuine, untrue. So His royal 
heart bursts forth. And it is all because in that 
royal heart's pure center are the throne and crown 
and scepter of unmixed, invincible Truth. 



The King of Truth 53 

Just what to do. 

i. Make sure you get the scene alive. 

2. Talk on washing hands, as these Pharisees 
would. 

3. Talk on aged customs, as these Pharisees 
would. 

4. Talk about a clean-hngercd hypocrite. 

5. Pry open that Corban theory. 

6. Show the grip of Jesus' sarcasm in v. 9. 

7. How effective is sarcasm on a cheat? 

8. Try to show just how Jesus felt here. 

9. Read Is. 1: 10-17. 

10. Commit Is. 29: 13-15, and the 4th Command. 

11. Study into Japanese ablutions before shrines. 



54 Jesus 



LESSON XII 

Telling Painful Truth 
Mark 8: 31-38 

1. Here is powerful proof of Jesus' honest faith- 
fulness. He is foretelling about the cross. This 
could not have been a pleasing theme to Christ. It 
surely was unwelcome to His followers. Many a 
prudent mind would gravely doubt the wisdom of 
"letting it be known. 

(a) But Jesus told all the Truth, despite the cruel 
hurt and wrench in the very thought. It was a 
Truth to make the bravest nature shudder. But 
He broke it plainly. 

(b) And He said it stoutly. His tone was res- 
olute, not faint. He could not be stopped. When 
Peter rose in stiff resistence and rebuke, He held 
right on. He would not be mute. He rung it 
out instead repeatedly, and with firm persistence. 

(c) Nor did He hint it darkly and in general 
terms. He said it often, openly, and in strange 
detail. He named with particular explicitness the 
coming ''suffering" and "shame" and ''death.'' He 
specified the ''elders,'' "priests" and "scribes." And 
He said it should be "many" fold, not an isolated 
blow or pang. 

(d) Thus He spoke His Truth. He would not 
halt. AYhen men cried out, rebuke matched re- 
buke. With terrible earnestness He swept Peter 
from His path. So honest was His faithfulness. 
So faithful was His honesty. In the awful pres- 



The King of Truth 55 

cncc o\ an all but unutterable sorrow and shame, 
J [e was absolutely frank. 

:2. Ami ii was just the same, as He voiced the 
coming portion of His followers. He was honesl 
as the d He told them all. Every one must 

"bear a cross.'* Each must "deny himself.'' Not 
one but would have to offer up his '"life." No dis- 
ciple might feel ashamed of Christ, however much 
d, or of His words, however tense, on pain of 
ultimate and irreparable humiliation, when f he Lord 
should shine in light. 

Here, assuredly, is open, undeniable honesty. 
Jesus is no wily diplomat. He is the open face of 
an open day. He is King of Truth. 

And He said this not alone to a selected few. 
He broke it roundly to the teeming crowd. He 

had no double face. He dealt alike with all. His 
Truth was like the sky, unrolled and evident to all 
the earth. 

3. But His revelation wears another phase. Af- 
ter shame and pain and death He is to "rise again'' 
and "come in glory." This is a solid part of what 
Jesus says. Just this inspired that tremendous 
counter-thrust at Peter. Shame and death shall 
surely come. But so shall honor and eternal life. 
These two are "things of God." And these the 
Lord will not have unheeded and unheard. His 
Truth must stand entire. Not an error, not a doubt, 
not a fragment will He endure. The Truth, the 
whole Truth, and nothing else, will the Lord pro- 
claim. So round and strong and solid is His word. 

4. In all this certain aspects gleam and shine. 
(a) His earnestness is' terrific. See Him deal 

with Peter. To challenge aught He says is to join 
with Satan and part with God. Here is Truth's 

pure energy, elemental, infinitely intense. It can- 
not brook denial. 



56 Jesus 

(b) His Truth is prescient. He pierces the un- 
seen. He knows the things to surely come. His 
eye knows no horizon. Days yet to come are as 
today. He knows like God. Thus He evades 
surprises. This holds Him calm and brave and 
strong. He lived devoid of fear. And this, be- 
cause He knew. He was King of Truth. 

(c) His Truth was businesslike. See Him bal- 
ance values. He was a Master tradesman. Pon- 
der, if you can, vv. 36-37. See Him summarize the 
''world." See Him estimate one soul. There 
works a Master mind about a master - task. Hear 
him. Which has greater value — all the world, or 
one man's soul? There is the query of a King. 
And hear His judgment. That answer is a King's 
reply. And both question and reply are the off- 
spring of free-born, high-born Truth. And never 
did a weightier bargain wait and tremble in the 
scales. 

(d) But He longs to make His teaching mutual. 
He seeks a free consent. He argues. He ap- 
peals. He warns. He beckons. And yet His 
teaching wears a regal air. We cannot abide in 
unconcern, while he entreats. We must listen and 
think, we must judge and act. When He stands near, 
our conscience cannot sleep. It must perforce re- 
spond. Here rises a mighty marvel. Christ's 
Truth is gentle as a friend. But it is imperial as a 
King. So it beckons and compels. 



The King of Trut^ 5y 

Just what to do. 

i. Got into the (loops of Jesus 1 heart. 

2. Try to reveal His mighty sorrows. 

3. Show up His solitude. No one believed Him. 

4. Show the faithfulness of His life. 

5. Show the faithfulness of His speech. 

6. Show the vigor of His Truth. 

7. Show what it cost to keep His word. 

8. Show how His Truth held hope as well as 
grief. 

9. Talk about our proneness to deny. 

10. Talk over 2 Cor. 11. 

11. Commit to memory Is. 53: 1-6. 



58 Jesus 



LESSON XIII 

The Truth About Man's Majesty 
Matt. 18: 1-7 

1. Tn the front of this impressive scene looms 
an ugly error. Men misunderstand the marks of 

majesty. Mark every side of their mistake. 

(a) Their views of greatness led them into strife. 
It aroused debate. They disagreed. They drew 
apart. This shows clear in Mark and Luke. 
And their divergence they could not reconcile. 
They needed arbitration. And so they came to 
Jesus. Mark well this disagreement. Track it 
to its root. Why were they at odds? Make 
sure to answer this. 

(b) Their theory of majesty went far astray in 
this: it looked toward monarchy. In their con- 
ception the "greatest" must reside alone. There 
could be but one. That ''who*' in v. 1 is a singular, 
not a plural. Majesty cannot be mutual; so they 
thought. Its dignity was of such a sort as to 
never serve for two., much less for twelve. 

(c) This view enforced comparisons. It made 
them judge each other. It made them note and 
emphasize each point wherein they differed. This 
worked to broaden contrasts and heighten discords, 
and aggravate all inequalities. 

(d) Hence issued arrogance. The would-be 
prince among such men, when driving such debate, 
must puff and swell with an over-pressure of self- 
esteem. He must assume an unreal excellence. 
He must play usurper. 



The King of Truth 5g 

^e) And it involved a manifold inferiority. As 
surely as their debate or the Master's word could 
settle who alone was prince, thai decision would 
shove all the others into lower seats. Once make 
it clear which single head might wear the crown, 
and all the other heads must bow. This is a sure 
and pregnant implication of their misguided view. 

(i) And it yields a host of false appraisals. All 
such distinctions teem with error and unreality. 
When only one assumes the garb of majesty, and 
all the rest stand plain, many a princely dignity is 
under-prized. And when one man is set alone 

above his fellows, his superiority is bound to rest, 
in essential respects, in mere parade. His over- 

topping parts must be largely pomp. And those 
outer signals of supremacy are always mainly coun- 
terfeits. 

Such are samples of the baleful issue their erring 
view of majesty brings forth. And their miscon- 
ception was radical. They misjudged man. Th<*y 
sadly missed essential Truth. 

2. Now see the Master set them right. For the 
fair and solid substance of real greatness, Jesus of- 
fers the person of a little child, and bids them all 
resemble him. Here is majesty in full display. 

So Jesus signifies. Now note its features. 

(a) True majesty is forever lodged in persons, 
not in things. Deathless souls, not lifeless sym- 
bols, are its embodiment. Its perfect illustration 
can newer be a crown, a scepter, or a throne. No 
palace or metropolis can help to indicate its where- 

uts. Its pure and full reflection is in the pre- 
cious person of a living, artless child. Here is 
grandeur that never can decay. 

(b) True majesty has humility. Think of a 
shy, blushing, unassuming child, a being in whom 
self-consciousness is a pure and native grace. There 
opens the very throne room and presence chamber 



6o Jesus 

of an immortal dignity. And its beauty is, in fact, 
not at all the beauty of a swelling bud. It is the 
heavenly beauty of a perfect flower, full-spreading, 
fair-tinted, beyond improvement, above rebuke. It 
is finished, sterling worth. Such majesty is true. 

(c) True majesty looks towards fellowship. All 
its traits and moods are democratic. Weigh that 
"whosoever" in v. 4. That means anybody. Its 
throne is roomy as all the race of men. Myriads 
may be "great." Study children. How generous 
their mood! They welcome mates. They joy 
in having peers. Fellowship is their very life. 

(d) Now read v. 5. Think of it. How He 
makes Himself and a little child, any little child, 
identical. The holy Christ and a genuine child 
are deeply akin. And deep within their blessed 
kinship lies a common fund of grandeur. Here is 
Truth, priceless Truth, Truth no man may wisely 
miss. 

3. Now ponder attentively this marvelous little 
paragraph. It is a very fount of Truth. Its 

golden rim is fair and full, an orb of perfect light. 
Gaze into it. It pours abroad a flood of revelation 
as to man, as to a child, and as to true-born, royal 
dignity. It is a King's instruction about a kingly 
theme. 



The King of Truth 6 1 

Just what lo do. 

i. Try to get this scene wide open to your eye. 

2. Analyze a spurious majesty. Tell its traits. 

3. Cite illustrations. 

4. Analyze a genuine majesty. Tell its traits. 

5. Show up the glory of a little child. 

6. Talk about the depth and accuracy of Jesus. 

7. Contrast the majesty of Lincoln and Napoleon. 

8. Talk about misunderstanding oneself. 

9. Show how Truth may be embodied in men. 

10. Talk over Is. 14: 4-19. 

11. Commit to memory Psalm 8. 



62 Jesus 



LESSON XIV 

The World's True Light 

John 8: 12-20 

1. Here stands a stupendous claim. Try hard 
to get its measure. List its features: I am light; 
I know my origin and destiny; I am not alone; the 
Father reinforces me; hence my judgment and my 
testimony are true; hence all who follow me gain 
light; and all who know me know the Father; all 
others grope darkly, judge erringly, and know nei- 
ther the Father nor me. These are stalwart af- 
firmations. 

(a) They show a true supremacy. He who is 
speaking here stands sovereign. Here is no sub- 
ordinate, waiting on another's nod. He overtops 
the world. Fie sheds no borrowed rays. He is 
a true original and ultimate. His witness stands. 
His verdicts never change. God's energy and au- 
thority are in all Fie does or says. He is the 
whole world's light. 

(b) They show fine clarity. Jesus sees trans- 
parently. He does not guess. Search that sen- 
tence: "I know whence I came and whither I go.'' 
Trace out that statement's range. It penetrates 
eternity. Then search that 19th verse: "If ye had 
known me, ye should have known my Father also." 
Here are visions of Himself and of the Father, and 
of the world, that are visions indeed, far-ranging, 
unshadowed, free. Jesus had an unsullied mind. 

(c) They show profound sincerity. Jesus' Truth 
was not mere theory. He never dealt in imper- 



The King of Truth 63 

I speculations. He was always proffering 

Ami when He wished to fortify His 

He proffered God. And when He sought 

disciples, His eye was on their "life." Such was 

His instruction. It was personal. He figured 

"witness." And such were His opinions. They 
were moral verdicts. He figured as a "judge." 

His teaching was always in close touch with honor. 
His "Light" was the Light of "Life." So ringing 
true is that short, vital word upon His honest lips. 

(d) They show a first-hand testimony. Jesus' 
work was "witness" bearing. But His witness was 
"of Himself." What a glorious trait of Jesus' 
Truth! He did surely comprehend Himself. He 
kept His lineage well in mind. 

(e) Rut His witness never went "alone." Lie 
has constant corroboration from God. Tarry long 
in v. 16. Here Jesus is wrestling mightily as He 
resents His critics' technicality about His witness 
being untrue. Survey it well. It is a King's 
retort. They say His witness fails because it lacks 
support; He testifies alone about Himself. In face 
of that, see how He towers. God is with Him: 
"I and the Father"; "If ye had known me, ye should 
have known my Father." Two witnesses speak in 
all He says. Two voices ring in every word. 
"Your law provides that the witness of any two is 
true. Here are the requisite two, my Father and 
myself. In all I say we two agree. My witness 
then is true." Llere is plain, straight talk. And 
it is apt. And its prime concern is Christ's 
veracity. 

2. And now mark the content of His testimony. 
"I am the Light of the world; my followers pass 
from darkness: they have life's light." Here is the 
golden substance of Jesus' Truth — a sublime avow- 
al. It is this He attests. It is this He defends. 
It is unbelief in this that He resents. It is this 



64 Jesus 

that God confirms. It is this in which His very 
being stands engrossed. In this assertion all His 
honor stands involved. It is His boast, His pride, 
His glorious goal. Jesus is the Light of the world. 
This is Truth. Make it shine. Win it faith. 

Contend, as Jesus did, as for your very honor, 
c- gainst all unbelief. 

3. And now observe that awful word in v. 19. 
And mark its verity. This constitutes its terror. 
Those unbelieving critics, stickling at cold legal 
points, as though mere mathematics, know neither 
Christ nor God. Study those men. They were 
scholastic sharpers. And their minds were gross. 
Read vv. 13 and 15. But with all their legal 

finesse, they were essentially untaught. God was 
beyond their ken. And God's own faithful repre- 
sentative, the Light of all the world, they utterly 
misjudged. Here is Truth again, but a sad and 

hard reality — a disclosure of the awful untruth of 
unbelief. 

Such is Jesus' Truth, as witnessed in this scene. 
Get clear about its essential traits. It is Sover- 
eign, hailing from God, the norm of the whole world, 
appealing everywhere for lowliest discipleship. It 
is benignant, shining graciously on all mankind. 
It is full Verity, attested perfectly and infallibly by 
God and Christ. It is pure, an energy of Life, a 
deathless force, not sprung from realms of "flesh." 



The King of Truth 65 

Just what to do. 

i. Conceive how Jesus' honor IS at stake. 

2. Bring your jealousy to burn like His. 

3. Feel the solid weight of His assertions. 

4. Show the range of what He claims. 

5. Show how I lis truth and His person are iden- 
tical. 

6. Show how strong His affirmations are. 

7. Try to define the proper faith. 

8. Describe the full iniquity of doubting Him. 

9. Commit Is. 60: 1-3'. 



66 Jesus 



LESSON XV 

How Truth Emancipates 

John 8: 31-38 

1. This lesson lies in vv. 31-38. But you need 
to read vv. 21-30. There Jesus and the Jews had 
crossed sharp swords. See what was up. Jesus 
has been talking about God and Himself; about the 
world and man; about His coming and going; about 
duty and fidelity; about sin and faith; and about 
doubt and death. 

(a) As He talked, it is clear that many resented 
what He said. They were "from beneath." They 
were from ''this world." They "could not come; 
They were to die "in their sins." So the state- 
ments run. 

(b) But many believed. And the Master turns 
to them in v. 31. His pivotal word is "Truth." 
This "Truth" is won by constant, true discipleship. 
And in turn this "Truth" wins "liberty." So 
Jesus says. And few more pregnant words were 
ever spoken. 

(c) But His listeners get angry at that word 
"free." That term holds hints of slavery. And 
they were never slaves. "We are sons of Abra- 
ham, never in bonds to anyone." So they retort, 
rnd with ungentle tones. 

(d) But Jesus holds His theme. He speaks 
right on of slavery, only inserting now the fact of 
"sin": the doer of sin is the "servant" of sin. Sin 
makes slaves. And slaves are never heirs. They 
remain but transiently. 



The King of Tnilk 67 

But then He adds that slaves may gain their E 
dom. "Son" abides forever, an inalienable 

heir. And He may make a bondsman free. And 
if the "Son" makes free, that will be freedom iii- 
Aml then lie roundly denies that lineage from 
Abraham means liberty. They are sons of Abra- 

ham, indeed. Buf they resent the word and try to 
take the life of God's true Son. This proves them 
^i another line, not s«>ns i^i God, not true-born heirs, 
not freemen through God's word, not children of 
the 'Truth." 

2. Here is a royal piace to find out Jesus' view of 
Truth. 

(a) He burns with jealousy to be believed. De- 
nial fires Him up. Watch this here. They de- 
cline to take His statement of their case. They 

1 His hint, of their need of Truth and liberty 
through Him. They claim a full and independent 
liberty. 

Now catch the heightening of His tone. Mark 
how His vigor grows. He gets instantly intense. 
He does not budge. He points to God. He 

charges sin. He calls them slaves. He points 
to murder in their hearts. He shows they hold 

back faith from God. He holds by God's eternal 
Fatherhood, and finally He hints at hateful, alien 
parentage for them. So He plunges down upon 
their rising unbelief. 

(b) He rests His veracity in God's Fatherhood. 
Study earnestly vv. 35-38. Here is the core of it 
all. Jesus claims to be God's Son. As Son He 
abides forever. As Son Fie sees and speaks the 
Father's Truth. As Son He liberates from bonds. 
Here is Jesus' central citadel. This is His sover- 
eign argument. It is His last retort. 

Be sure you get this clear. This solemn, sturdy 
claim of God's true Fatherhood is laid down by 
Jesus as the base, the sure resting place of His 



68 Jesus 

veracity. Being God's Son forever, His words 

claim credence, His pledge of liberty is sure. Sink 
your mind down into this. Jesus' word has all the 
vigor in His being. And in His high-born being 
surge all the tides of God. This is Jesus' claim. 
His Truth is bulwarked, like His life, in God. 

(c) But state again, and separately, how the 
Truth of Jesus operates. For it has grand efficien- 
cy. It emancipates. It makes bondsmen free. 

Here is the living nerve of all the Saviour's life. 
He is Himself forever free, and that because free- 
born. He is forever Son, forevermore no slave. 
Here is the very birth-mark of Truth. It is born of 
God. It is God's free child. It is never bound. 
And it is omnipotent to emancipate. All its energy 
works towards liberty. 

Sonship, Truth and Liberty — see their power 
and beauty throb and blend in Christ. Here is 

something to admire. Be sure to show the Sav- 
iour in all His gentle grandeur as Son of God, and 
Source of Truth, and Lord of Liberty to every child. 

(d) But make it clear at last how Truth and 
Doubt must war. These two can never be friends. 
Mark how these people seek to kill the Lord. Their 
unbelief and His superb averments can never both 
survive. One must be put away. Only one can 
reign. So the awful battle must be set. Each 
and all must choose: Jesus, Truth and Liberty; or 
Sin, Denial, Slavery. 



The King of Tru/I? dp 

Just what to do. 

i. Read this repeatedly, till your passion fires, 
like Christ. 

2. Talk, as Jesus would, about slavery in sin. 

3. Talk, as Jesus would, about His being Son of 

4. Talk, as Jesus would, about His Truth. 

5. Talk, as Jesus would, about real Liberty. 

6. Show the union of error, sin and slavery. 

7. Show the uniOn of Sonship, Truth and Liberty. 

8. Show how Jesus' very Being is in His affirma- 
tion. 

9. Commit to memory vv. 31-36. 

10. Talk over Gen. 42 — how sin and lies enslave. 



JO Jesus 



LESSON XVI 

Facing the Father of Lies 
John 8: 39-47 

1. Here is a lively scene. Search it through 

and through till every accent rings clear. In v. 38 
Jesus had hinted pointedly that His critics' par- 
entage was not of God. This sets the key for a 
stirring colloquy. And this is the way it runs: 

(a) Jesus claims to have spoken Truth, the very 
Truth of God from whom He came, whose Son He 
is, whom He has heard. He claims to be God's 
faithful, filial, loyal Son. 

(b) This Truth these Jews will not believe. And 
Jesus they seek to slay. They resent His hint of 
their ungodly parentage, making boast of Abraham, 
and claiming to be sons of God. 

(c) But Jesus holds His ground. He reavers 
that He has come from God, and that His word is 
Truth. And then He drives the issue home. Scan 
His words. Every one is like a biting sword: 
"You seek my life. You spurn my word. But I 
am God's Son. I speak His Truth. In your re- 
sistance therefore glare two awful sins, Murder and 
Unbelief. These iniquities are radical. They 
prove your lineage. You are not of God, the King 
of Love and Truth. Your proper ancestor is the 
original Murderer and Father of Lies. The Devil 
is your father. Past denial your kinship is with 
Satan, not with God.'' 



The King of Truth yi 

2« Such is the swift, tense controversy here afoot. 
It is an awful scene. But it is a splendid place to 
study Jes At every turn the Master is 

Himself, clear, and cool, and firm. Et is a perfect 

pie of the final championship of Truth. 

ia) His ardor cannot be quenched. His light 
cannot be hid. He stands for God. He is Light 
of the world. He speaks pure Truth. Floods of 
ungodly men cannot extinguish Him. lie is like 

the >nn. Having risen lie will not withdraw. 

It is a royal exhibition of Truth's principal de- 
votee. His loyalty and quietness are absolute. 
He will not recall a syllable or change a phrase, 
lie is calm as a mighty hill. He will not bow. 

(b) Jesus dares drive His battles to their very 
end. His push is infinite. Xo force can turn 
Him off or rein Him in half-way. He seeks the 
end. He aims to make His reckoning on this 
scene final — a survey for all time. See Him trace 
the mapping of this conflict, as He talks of God and 
Satan, Truth and Love, Lies and Hate. Those 
words are ultimate. They trace the outmost rim 
of moral strife. Think those words over: "Devil," 
"Murder," ''Lies." These are no mincing terms. 
They have no slightest flavor of a compromise. 
But this bitterness and thoroughness are inherent 
qualities of pure Truth, when unbelief plots death. 

(c) Scan Jesus 7 manner here. Get His method 
clear, as He pushes towards that goal. Speak over 
thoughtfully Jesus' words after Him, as He defines 
the Devil: He was a "murderer." He was a mur- 
derer "from the beginning." He "stood not in the 
truth/' There is "no truth in him." He is "a 
liar." He speaketh in his lying "of his own." 
He is "the father" of lies. 

What words these are! Every one is deadly. 

They smite the very eye. They show the Devil 
an inherent traitor, fired with inherent hate. They 



72 Jesus 

picture him as always vestured with pretense, always 
hot for blood; in ever}'thing a deceiver, in everything 
an assassin, the arch-antagonist of Love, the arch- 
antagonist of Truth. 

Now get near. Jesus is athrill. Feel His 

breath. Touch His heart. Sink your vision in 

His flaming eye. He is wrestling. Love is 

facing hate. Truth encounters doubt. Christ 

and Satan interlock. It is a battle royal. Study 
it. See how Jesus aims and deals His blows. See 
how He locates His foe. Watch how He trusts 
His own fine-tempered steel. It is a fine example 
of Truth's true manner, when in a final strife. 

(d) And study Jesus' constancy. It is like an 
anvil. It is absolute. Watch those Jews. Their 
purpose is fell. They smite to destroy. But see 
their hammers rebound. Jesus' resolution is like 
adamant. It will outwear and outlast all their 
blows. Truth has infinite solidity. Its calmness 
is eternal. 

(e) Scan the Saviour's logic. Study v. 46. 
Here is Jesus' characteristic style. Get into it. 
It is a welded syllogism. See if you can dissect 
its naked skeleton. Try this: Unbelief is proper 
only in the face of error. But I have voiced no 
error; convict me, if you can. Why then do you 
stick fast in doubt? Or this: Belief is binding 
when in face of Truth. My word is Truth; name 
an error if you can. Why do you not then believe? 



The King of Truth j3 

Just what to do. 

i. Gel into the awful earnestness of this debate. 

2. Show how the battle started (v. 38). 

3. Show just how Jesus came to mention Satan. 

4. Define Satan just as Jesus does here. 

5. Try to show all the horror of hate and lies. 

6. Try to show how firm and calm is Jesus' Truth. 

7. Show up the power of Jesus' logic (vv. 45-46). 

8. Show how thorough Jesus is. 

9. Commit to memory Rev. 18: 21-24. 



J 4 Jesus 



LESSON XVII 

Facing a Lying Verdict 
John 8: 48-59 



1. False views of Christ. The same battle 

rages. But the conflict deepens. Two words are 
flung at Jesus, like bombs of dynamite. They call 
Him a '"Samaritan" and a "demoniac." And they 
are aimed at Him with deadly earnestness. The 
murderous hate which Jesus charged against them 
in the former lesson, is glaring in their eyes and 
burning in their hearts. They vote the Lord an 
utter reprobate, no better than the lowest social out- 
cast. 

(a) Here is food for thought. These critics 
gave this judgment as the honest estimate of their 
mind. Thus they claimed to think. In their 
opinion this verdict told the Truth. Now be care- 
ful. Was this judgment honest? Undoubtedly 
their souls were hot with hate. Look into this. 
How far may hate unbalance thought? Can men 
red-hot with anger think accurately about the object 
of their rage? 

(b) But they meant it. They picked their 
words. They gave tit for tat. Jesus had de- 
tected in their hearts a thirst for His blood, and de- 
nial of His word. These two impulses were iden- 
tically the same as formed the major traits of Satan. 
Hence they were Satan's offspring, so Jesus had just 
said. That outright thrust enraged them. Their 
spirits were on fire. And they forged their heat into 



The King of Tratk J 5 

those two reproachful words, calling Jesus a low- 
born vagabond and a demoniac. They meant all 

the\- averred; they chose barbed words. 

(c) For they show no tendency to relent. As 
Jesus resents their rudeness, and re-avows His honor 
as God's true witness of immortal Truth, that rude- 
ness only heightens. They all but call the Lord a 
maniac. They fairly snort their disagreement and 
contempt. Read vv. 52-53. "Now we know." 

Note that "now"; and weigh that "know." You 

can all but see their minds at work, and feel their 
inference take form. Jesus proves Himself be- 

neath respect. Their affirmation is an argument. 
It enfolds a syllogism. It means to say: "Now 
we are sure." Read it all repeatedly, till this comes 
clear. Here stands their estimate of Christ — an es- 
timate for which they would drive the battle to the 
cross. 

2. The true view of Christ. Here Jesus draws 
a careful portrait of Himself, rejecting every false- 
hood, working in pure Truth. 

(a) "I have not a demon." That was a wicked 
thrust of theirs. It meant that He had inner 
league with lies and hate — He who was full of 
Truth and Grace. He denies it totally. No de- 
mon inhabits Him. No deadly hate flames up in 
Him. No unbelief of Truth, no treachery, no 
double mind, no darkness, no mistake is housed in 
Him. All such influence and dominion Jesus ab- 
solutely abjures. See how He holds up Truth, 
Truth facing a bitter lie, Truth as denial, Truth in 
rebuttal, Truth in negation, Truth to clear the air. 
Get the full swing of His assertion: "I have no 
demon." 

(b) But note His silence on their other charge — 
"Thou art a Samaritan." That charge He does 
not deny. He lets it stand. Look into this. 
Imagine Jesus saying, "I am no Samaritan." See. 



J 6 Jesus 

His very silence is eloquent. They meant it as a 
jibe. They thought to sting Him with sharp in- 
dignity. They watched to see Him blush and feel 
ashamed. But He simply, beautifully held His 

peace. That was all. 

(c) But now He makes a royal, round-voiced, 
positive claim: "I do honor my Father," v. 49. 
Here is the glowing sum of all Christ's affirmations 
about Himself. It is like a whole cathedral front. 

(d) Now read v. 51. "He who keeps my word 
shall not see death forever." Mark that combina- 
tion: Christ, Truth and immortality. Contrast 
those traits of Satan: lies and murder. Have you 
eyes? Can you really think? Here is really the 
mightiest, the most solemn tournament of time. 
Those critics say Jesus is a demoniac, in deep con- 
federacy with lies and death. Jesus replies that 
His word is the very key to immortality. Watch 
your Lord. How superbly He lays His blows. 
He knows His foe. He knows Himself. He 
deals with Truth. The issue is immortal life. 
Truth is all His weaponry. So He stands, clear- 
eyed, invincible, the King of living Truth. 

(e) And now read v. 58: "Before Abraham was, 
T am." Here is the apex of His claim. He is 
no child of a single day or of any single generation 
of men. He came from far. He comprehends 
unchangeably the changing years. Man's flitting 
periods of birth and growth, of change and death, 
are not the measure of His life. In Him are foun- 
tains of immortality. His inner energies are for- 
ever unspent. He is Prince of life. 



The King of Truth 77 

Just what to do. 

i. Resolve to show how tense this battle is. 

2. Show carefully what these people thought of 
Jesus. 

3. Try to show how such opinions stung. 

4. Show up their falsehood, just as Jesus would. 

5. Slate carefully Jesus' estimate of Himself. 

6. Show how hate distorts Truth. 

7. Show up the secret of Jesus' strength. 

8. Commit to memory Psalm 90: 1-10. 



y8 Jesus 



LESSON XVIII 

How to Foil Sly Friends 
Luke 13: 31-35 

1. Study first these seeming friends. Observe 
their outer semblance and language of real interest. 
They came to Jesus with a warning. They un- 
covered perils. They counselled Him how to save 
His neck. They behaved like kind advisers. But 
watch. They may be plotting foes. 

2. In any case, see what misguided men they 
surely were. They missed plain truth at every 
turn. 

(a) They judged the Master timid. They made 
appeal to His fear of Herod and His dread of death. 
But Jesus felt iittle terror,, either of Herod or of the 
grave. They grossly erred. 

(b) They supposed they could move Jesus to 
intermit His work, and run away into hiding and 
idleness. But Jesus was a tireless, fearless, faith- 
ful devotee, filling all the days with unremitting toil. 
Again they erred. 

(c) They thought Jesus would deem Herod a 
puissant king, supreme, unchallenged throughout his 
realm. But Jesus knew Herod's downright in- 
competence; and He dealt with him as with a ci- 
pher. Here again they were misled. 

(d) They conceived Jesus easy to manipulate. 
They thought to swing or drive Him here or there 
at will. But Jesus was no underling. He paid 
scanty deference to their wisdom or authority or 
interest. So here again they erred. 



Tke King of Truth 79 

|« Sec what they overlooked. They wore sadly 

Ignorant of Christ. They had no open vision of 

His regal plan. Their minds stood blindfold. 

They did not know. And yet they talked and 
planned. 

(a) They had no accurate measure of the Sav- 
iour's energy. He was, in fact, tight-girded with 
untiring strength. He was fnll-charged with in- 
vincible decisiveness. No force could bend His 
upright will. All this they failed to see or reckon 
with. 

(b) They had no understanding to get His readi- 
ness for sacrifice. They thought Jesus would prize 
His life and safety above His work. They did not 
sense His utter readiness to stand and suffer for His 
cause. They missed deep visions here. 

(c) They had no eye quick and true enough to 
catch Christ's instant insight. They assumed and 
professed to take far looks ahead. But Jesus' vis- 
ion outreached theirs by many a league. They little 
guessed the far-spread horizons which His eagle eye 
could sweep. And that same eye could look 
through them. They little knew their nakedness 
under His gaze. 

So in the dark were they in all they planned and 
said. They were painfully inaccurate and unin- 

formed. 

4. Now study Christ in His reply. He is a 

radiant orb of Truth. 

(a) If they are wily plotters, He is a sharp detec- 
tive. He knows that Herod is of no account to 
Him. And He meshes them in their own trap, 
bidding them hie right back to Herod, from whom 
they claim to come, and deliver in person His short 
reply. 

(b) Show His fidelity. He keeps at work. 
This is a beautiful phase of Jesus' Truth. He 
tends His trust. Work this up. Herod was a 



80 Jesus 

Mooch' man. It was he who beheaded John. He 
was a heartless, faithless despot and assassin. And 
Jesus stood within his reach. And Jesus stood for 
righteousness Mid purity, just as John had done. 
To human view the warning was a timely note. 

But Jesus held right on. Read v. 33. There 
rings a splendid challenge, brave and plain. Here 
is perfect honor. 

(c) See His frankness. This too is a noble 
phase of Truth. Read v. 33 again. There spreads 
the open sketch of a broad campaign. It lies un- 
disguised beneath the shining sky. Just like the 
Saviour. He does nothing in the dark. Every- 
thing is evident. 

(d) And He is well-informed. He knows the 
whole past record of Jerusalem. He can name her 
prophets, and recite their fate. His eye is open, 
and His mind well-stored. This knowledge 
brought Him poise and quietness. He knew His 
task. He knew His people. He knew His fate. 
He knew His mission was inwrought with sacrifice, 
and that Jerusalem was getting His altar built. 
And He knew that her citizens, not Herod, were to 
be His executioners. All this lay clear within His 
mind. He knew the Truth. 

But he also knew His triumph. He foresaw 

that His people should behold Him come again, 
v. 35. Death must be encountered. But even 

death must yield. He owned Himself a sacrifice. 
But He felt Himself a Prince of Life. In this 

great Truth His soul found rest. 

So keen and faithful, so frank and well-instructed 
was the mind of Christ. 



The King of Trutk 8l 

Just what to do. 

i. Handle this as real, as sharp and vivid history. 

2. Show the arrogance of instructing Jesus. 

3. Show whit these people did not know. 

4. Show how they misjudged Jesus. 

5. Talk about the feebleness of pretense. 

G. Show how clear the eye ^i Jesus was. 
Show how honesty made Jcsns brave. 

8. Talk over the story in Daniel 6. 

9. Commit to memory Psalm 27: 1-5. 



82 Jesus 



LESSON XIX 
Facing Spies 
Luke 14: 1-6 

1« Here is a living little scene. It is a feast. 
There sits the host, a high official in society, a 
prince. 

Observe the guests. See them file in, thought- 
ful of every decorum, seemly, respectful, expectant. 

Now fancy Jesus entering, and moving in and out 
among His fellow-guests, greeting here, greeted 
there, the soul and form of true and gracious cour- 
tesy. 

2. Now mind well one single word. They were 
"watching" Him. This means "spying." Read 
all the verses over with that disturbing word in 
mind. How the whole scene alters! 

(a) Imagine them. Paint their eyes — the 
eyes of spies. Conceive their hearts — the hearts 
of spies. Invent their thoughts — the thoughts of 
spies. And notice. They refuse to speak, when 
Jesus questions them. They mean to hide their 
thought. They are silent spies. Look into this. 
What sort of men are here? Just what was the 
very quality and substance of their subtlety? 

(b) Mark their cunning. Their silence was the 
mark of guile. They were not merely wary. 
They were warlike. The covert, where they hid, 
was an ambuscade. Their silence screened a foe. 
Get these two things separate — their slyness and 
their hate. Jesus' fellow-guests were not merely 
mute; they were malicious. 



The King of Truth 83 

(c) Sec their unmanliness. Jesus was honor- 
able every way. His manner was undisguised 
straightforwardness. His question was perfectly 

direct and plain and tit. They ought in honor to 

have met it with a plain and straight and courteous 
reply. Bui they did not treat the Master worthily. 
They spurned Him openly. This was not the act 
ntlemen. It was a rank disconrtesy. But 
mark it well; and make each scholar see it. This 
disconrtesy was the certain issue of dishonesty. 
This is vital to get clear. 

(d) But all this simply means that they them- 
selves were trapped. They did not answer Jesus' 
query because they dared not. Any answer they 
could invent would show them knaves. Try it for 
them. They were nicely caught. And even 
silence gave no escape. That also proved them 
void of honesty. Test this. Read Jesus' ques- 
tion. How self-evident! None but men of wiles 
and lies can withhold reply. 

(e) This show r s them cowards. They had laid 
a snare. They hoped to entangle Christ. To 
give an honest answer would be to disown their 
trick. But to give false answer to such a plain- 
faced query would surely bring them burning scor«. 
They w f ere in a hard dilemma; and they were fearful 
of either horn. And so they answered nothing. 
They were downright cowards. This is a mighty 
lesson. In the face of sure disclosure, treachery 
cannot be brave. Make this ring. 

3. Now study Jesus. His voice is music. It 
is good to hear Him speak. Every note rings true. 
And He acts. He heals the sick. How simple! 
How noble! How profound! He sets a man 
above a Sabbath rule. He does it instantly, un- 
flinchingly. Right where they spy and plot, He 
shows His mind, frank and open as the day. Study 
Him. 



84 Jesus 

(a) He preserves His honesty. When they de- 
vise a plot, He does not frame a counter-plot, meet- 
ing guile with guile. He keeps His rectitude. He 
does not deal in artifice and snares. He. walks 
in light. Truth is His only sword. 

(b) He is keen. They weave a net, thinking to 
entangle Him in Sabbath strictures. But feel the 
even edge of that inquiry: "Is it lawful on the Sab- 
bath day to do good?" How instantly and nicely 
it cuts Him free. 

(c) He is noble. Fix your eye on Jesus' man- 
liness. He is a picture of perfect excellence, kind, 
bold, regal, keen. And it all roots in His deep- 
wrought rectitude. He knows no crookedness. 
Hence He is inherently and unchangeably a gentle- 
man. 

(d) And He stands and moves in perfect free- 
dom. And the root of this is honesty. His spies 
were full of guile, and hence on every side they 
were restrained. They could not match His speech, 
or face His look. And they designed to bind Him 
fast in some illegal course. But see. His pace 
and speech beseem a king. He cannot be fastened 
in a trap. He cannot be knotted down with cords. 
He owns no trammels. Every impulse of His be- 
ing is unchecked. Only lies make slaves. Truth 
makes anyone a king. 



The King of Truth 86 

Just what to do. 

i. Get this scene well opened to your scholars' 
eyes. 

2. Get them all to see that "watching." 

3. Try to show what was in their minds. 

4. Handle sharply their refusal to reply. 

5. Talk about the ways of sly and wily men. 

6. Show the beauty of Jesus' frankness. 

7. Show how a man of guile gets cornered. 

8. Show how fearless honesty may be. 

9. Talk over 1 Sam. 18. 

10. Commit to memory Psalm 5: 1-9. 



86 Jesus 



LESSON XX 

The Truth About Honor 
Luke 14: 7-ix. 

1. Here is the same feast. And Jesus is in its 
midst. Each man is rated. Each seat is ap- 
praised. Pride is arbiter. Differences are en- 
forced. Chief places are preferred. And when 
the feast is all arranged, social contrasts stare. 
Pride flourishes above humility. Meekness is 
stamped with disrepute. 

2. This gives the Master pain. And his gentle 
heart prompts wholesome words. 

(a) See his disclosure of a false authority. 
Read vv. 8-9. Look closely. Those guests are 
seating themselves. They assume to fix the order 
of their seats. But this is fundamental error. 
For guests to assume that right is arrogance. 
Such authority is false. 

(b) Turn this right about. True authority is 
vested in the host. His right is real. Every 
favor is his from donation. Every guest is his 
free choice. At any moment he has full author- 
ity to usher in a guest whose dignity outranks every 
honor in the hall, and lead him up past every other 
feaster to the highest place. Such authority is 
no assumption or pretense. It is real and true. 

(c) In similar fashion examine honor. These 
guests are exalting themselves. Watch and study 
such a feaster, as he settles down upon his chosen 
place and spreads his plume in self-congrat- 



The King of Truth 8j 

ulation. Little hearty, solid honor comes up to 

Mich a man from men who sit beneath. And 

surely none comes down from those above. 
What deference he receives IS forced. When 
obeisances wait on such a man, they are certain to 
be mixed with counterfeit respect. Such honor 
is largely false. 

(d) Now fancy honor of the other sort. Con- 
ceive a gentle, humble man who makes no rude 
drive for primacy. He moves about in patient 
thoughtfulness of every other man, not flaunting 
his own claim, not thrusting fellow-guests aside. 
To such a humble, kindly heart the host steps up 
and bids him take the place at his own right hand. 
Here is honor. It is genuine, solid, precious, 
real. Such a dignity is sterling through and 
through. 

(e) And now in similar style examine shame. 
As those competing guests are valuing dignities, it 
is a shame, real shame to voluntarily take a hum- 
ble seat. Such shame should be avoided by a 
truly worthy man. Such is their view and sense 
of shame. 

But now try to get the awful sense of "shame" in 
Jesus' mind, as he speaks that word in v. 9. The 
host comes in. He leads his sovereign guest. 
He requires the choicest seat. But it is already 
taken. A guest, who plots to shield himself from 
shame, has snatched the highest seat for himself. 
The host abruptly sends him out: "Give this man 
place." That order is sharp and hot as a lash. 
It holds little sign of deference. It only savs 
"Get out." 

Now watch your self-placed dignitary, as he slinks 
away, and begins with shame to take the lowest 
seat. Here is shame indeed, true shame. 

(f) This opens into a study of the true philoso- 
phy of social life. In the judgment of these 



88 Jesus 

guests the key to a proper social life is Competition 
based on Pride. Contend for primacy. Thrust 
rivals aside. Rude pushing breaks the way to 

honor. This is their understanding. 

What is your honest view of v. n? It surely 
is the inmost mind and view of Christ. Will you 
thoughtfully consider it correct? Here is a 
mighty study of one phase of Truth — Truth in its 
very essence. Does your mind receive it? Do 
you plan to teach it? 

3. Now study Jesus in this scene. 

(a) How faithful he is! Do you imagine it 
was a welcome task: this onslaught on those well- 
trenched customs, at a feast? But Jesus never 
flinched. He was forever faithful and true. 

(b) How exact he was! His words are always 
aimed with nicety. They hit the heart of things. 
And he could poise his words like balanced, feath- 
ered arrows. He never missed. His tongue 
and eye were true. 

(c) And he is profound. See his eye search 
through this scene. He sees it all. But he sees 
more. This scene is universal. In his pierc- 
ing survey of this feasting scene he sees all mutual 
envyings in all scenes everywhere. Wherever ar- 
rogance and meekness and God's judgment mix 
together, there these teachings are in place. This 
banquet is a transient miniature. But as it 
lodges in the Master's eye, it encloses every social 
drama in all the world. So deep is Jesus' eye. 



The King of Truth 89 

Just what to do. 

1. Make sure your scholars see this scene. 

2. Tell how these men come in and greet. 

3. Fancy how they begin to pick their scats. 

4. Show up the top man's arrogance. 

5. Show up his hollowness, 

6. Fancy how Jesus would behave. 

7. Show his solid honesty. 

8. Talk over "shame; 1 real and false. 

9. Talk over Hainan in Esther 5. 
10. Commit to memory 1 Pet. 5: 5-7. 



go Jesus 



LESSON XXI 

The Truth About Hospitality 
Luke 14: 12-14. 

1. Still we are at the same feast. But now 
Jesus fastens His eye upon the host. His words 
are few. The sum of it all is a vision and idea of 
a hospitality that is genuine, not pretense. It is 
still again a lesson in Truth. See what is in- 
volved, having all the while in mind the host. 
What qualities go to make up a true host? 

(a) The impulse must be honest, a motive that 
befits and betokens a host — a genuine goodwill. 
The design must be born and nurtured in unalloyed 
kindliness. The initial purpose may not be mar- 
red by some plot that roots in selfishness or self- 
display. That would spoil it all. 

(b) So with the preparation. It, too, must be 
genuinely host-like. Everything must be made 
ready with an eye to the pleasure of the guest, not 
to the praise or profit of the host. Heed must 
be kept continually upon the tastes and joys of the 
coming feasters. He should deal out bounty, 
pure bounty. He must not think of bait or bar- 
ter. 

(c) So with invitations. Here Jesus fixes well- 
nigh all His emphasis. Here lurks in every pro- 
jected feast, a subtle peril of insincerity. Many a 
host selects his guests and sends his invitations 
with a prophetic eye. He looks ahead. He 
foresees future feasts, and himself at each an hon- 
ored guest. Thus his invitations are not honest 



The King of Truth 9* 

hospitality. It is all a trade. lie is plotting 

really, not to generously entertain his fcllowmen, 
but to be nicely entertained himself in many a 
coming revelry. They are, thus, the sly deviee 
of greed, not the honest offer of a generous man. 

(d) So with the welcome. Think with some 
real attentiveness. Imagine those portal and 
hallway scenes, when all the guests are poor and 
hapless, lame and blind — each one called in from 
undisguised and undesigning kindliness. Every 
greeting will be a tender, hearty, truthful welcome. 
No return feast will be thought of. Up to the 
outermost threshold true hospitality will shine and 
reign. Not a phrase or accent or attitude will 
be a counterfeit. 

But imagine all the guests displaying easy court- 
liness, abundant jewelry, and fine attire. Sure as 
fate their greeting by the host will be mixed with 
thoughts of gain and self-esteem. 

(e) And so through all the festive round. If 
all who come are rich and grand, well skilled to 
make a fine return in kind, the host's attentions 
are all but sure to be mixed with fawning and ul- 
terior aims. His eye will keep alert upon utility. 

But if every visitor has no home or friend, then 
every hostly act will be an undesigning ministry, 
truthful in all its round, genuine to the core. 

(f) And so with the final satisfaction in the 
host's own heart. Real pleasure, pleasure that 
is the proper fruit of hospitality, can make its home 
with any host, only when his hospitality has been 
real. If one cheats when he plays the host, he 
will get cheated when he takes his pay. 

The key to hospitality is Truth. Its love must 
be genuine. 
2. True hospitality is royal art. 

(a) Its range involves eternity. Its reckon- 
ings cannot be cast in any register of earthly years. 



g2 Jesus 

Its proper era transcends time. It overleaps the 
Resurrection. Here is a deep suggestion. It 
probes a festival to its very heart. There sit im- 
mortals. Their vesture fades, their viands perish, 
their bodies die. But deep within, those feast- 
ers are all undying. That scene is transient. 
But its issues are everlasting. Here are solemn 
facts for hosts to hold. 

(b) No genuine hospitality runs to waste. An 
adequate reward is sure. This hint of Jesus 
soars high. Earthly feasts, if genuine ministries 
of love, bear fruit beyond. The joy of entertain- 
ing strangers here is kindred to the bliss in store in 
the coming life. Here is a mighty thought. 
But its whole tenor rings of Truth. Such joy and 
bliss lock hands with no dishonesty. No counter- 
feit of hostly friendliness will pass muster there, 
however prevalent or profitable here. The host 
who seeks that perfect bliss must be a host indeed. 

(c) True hospitality has broad fields. Its 
waiting guests are past numbering. All lone and 
smitten natures await its invitation. And they 
w r ill surely come. And their tastes are sane. 
No dish will be declined: And it is always so. 
The poor are always here. Pure festal revelry, 
real foretastes of resurrection feasts may run on con- 
tinually. 

Such is real hospitality. The true host de- 
tects in every guest an immortal child of God. 



The King of Truth 9^ 

Just what to do. 

i. Name the traits of the genuine host. 

2. Name the traits of a counterfeit host. 

3. Show win- Jesus advises inviting the poor. 

4. Dignity or ministry — which marks the true 
host. 

5. Describe the greeting of a genuine host. 

6. Define the pleasure of a true host. 

7. Name the true reward of hospitality. 

8. Does a true host place his guest in debt? 

9. Talk over Abraham's hospitality. Gen. 18: 1-8. 

10. Commit to memory Job 31: 16-22. 



g4 Jesus 



LESSON XXII 

Weighing an Empty Phrase 
Luke 14: 15-24 

1* Here is a study of sincerity in profession. 
v. 15 is the key. There some man tells Jesus 
how blessed will any one be who shares in the 
banquet in God's Kingdom. 

Instantly Jesus detects how often such an ex- 
clamation is a hollow lie. He sees that men 
assume that heavenly delights are the choicest de- 
lights of all. And He sees that in their prevailing 
tastes that assumption is often false. In fact, 
men often prize earthly happiness above God's 
grace. This fact He sets about to make quite 
clear. 

So He paints a feast, a majestic entertainment, 
lavishly devised and spread for many guests. 
This is the critical center of His device. As His 
which all men claim to prize supremely. 

But now scan how Jesus paints the guests. 
This is the critical center of His device. As His 
hand draughts the scene, when the banquet stands 
fully spread, and the seats await the guests, every 
man declines. They have choicer joys. 

Now grapple this. It is Jesus' artful, vivid an- 
swer to that heedless man in v. 15. His outburst 
seemed a fair and real beatitude. But it only 
seemed. It wholly wanted heart. In fact, it 
was untrue. Men sing God's praise quite glibly. 
But that practiced glibness is a slick and sancti- 
monious deceit. In their heart they do not love 









The King of Truth g5 

God's ways. In verity all these easy words about 
a Kingdom blessedness are worthless gush, a 
mere disguise. It is not honest talk. 

This time He fills in another group of guests — 
But it is aimed with close precision. It is poised 
with complete deliberation. And it is finished 
With rare artistic grace. Study it with all your 
.skill. And handle it with Christ's own heavenly 
earnestness. It deals with life and honor. 

2. But now Jesus turns the canvas, and paints 
the feast again. 

This time He fills in another group of guests — 
a very different set. Among them all not one of 
those first named has any place. These are blind 
and lame and destitute. Not one of these could 
command a standing in the ranks of those first 
called. 

But they all instantly accept. In their opinion 
an invitation to a feast outvalues everything. 
They are hungry for its happiness. They honest- 
ly long to go. As the}' anticipate the scene, their 
praise of its festivity is thoroughly sincere. 
Their congratulations are genuine. When they 
say, "Blessed is any man who may enter in and sit 
with God at banquet," they utter no empty cant; 
they voice their heart; they say the truth. 

Such are these companion scenes, fine specimens 
of the Saviour's honesty and art. They speak 
and thrill and glow from His heart. They offer a 
splendid protest against untruth. 

3. Define the various points. 

(a) Men are prone to misrepresent themselves. 
In fact, they love earthly things supremely. But 
yet they keep on talking as though God's, govern- 
ment and near presence were the prime beatitude. 
Such misstatements, however high the tide of fan- 
cied zeal, Jesus powerfully resents. Human 



g6 Jesus 

speech should exactly fit the human heart. Men 
must speak the truth. 

(b) Men wontccl to outer religions practices, 
presume upon inner religious life. If their speech 
and outer attitudes reflect the forms of reverence, 
they grow to assume unconsciously that God's best 
fellowships are for them of course, a sort of birth- 
right. 

But Jesus' eye discerns right here serious and 
curious mistakes. A man may cite a fine beati- 
tude with faultless ritual cadence, and be void of 
love for God. This is a deep dishonesty. And 
Jesus scores it always ruthlessly. 

Heaven has no happiness for hypocrites. This 
sharp-edged truth all pretenders need to have 
sharply told. 

(c) Religious martinets look scornfully upon 
people unaccustomed to their religious ways. 
They dub them untutored and uncouth, and bid 
them stand well aloof. 

But in Jesus' view such heartless judgments go 
pitifully astray. They are not only cruel; they 
are untrue. And so He shows that the utterly 
plain are, at heart, in closest harmony with God's 
free grace. Their teaching is a bitter lie. In 
its place Jesus puts the sweet teaching of His Truth. 



The King of Truth gy 

Just what to do. 

i. Make sure to hear and see that man in v. 15. 

2. Could that man have been one of those spies? 

3. Could he be clinging to a "first seat?" 

4. Do such men ever speak in praise of heaven? 

5. Make sure to puncture all such cant. 

6. Describe those first invited, carefully. 

7. Describe those last invited, carefully. 

8. Tell just what it all means. 

9. Commit Psalm 26. 



g8 Jesus 



LESSON XXIII 

How Truth Shines in Penitence 
Luke 15: 11-32. 

1. Study out of this boy's life the errors that pre- 
cede repentance. 

(a) The lad mistook, misunderstood himself. 
Compare his starting out with his return. 

As his career began he showed no single sign 
of self-distrust. His confidence was unlimited. 
He swept in and took along "all" that he had. 
He did not cautiously hold back a single thing. 
And his first plunge was for "far" lands. Though 
inexperienced, untravelled, and unscarred, he brav- 
ed the strange unknown as though a veteran. He 
seemed to hold all counsel and all caution in high 
scorn. Afar, alone, untrained, he ventured every- 
thing. 

And when his venture closed, he stood without 
a penny or a friend. He had to face his father 
and his brother and his boyhood home a bankrupt, 
an utter failure, unclad, unfed, unmanned. 

This proves his foolishness. He wanted 
sense. His wits were all misled. He wofully 
mistook himself. 

(b) And he did not know his father. His pa- 
rental worth was underprized. All that his 
father had painfully acquired and fondly hoped he 
flung disdainfully behind. Here is hard, unfilial 
scorn. And whatever else it may contain, it en- 
folds profound untruth. 



The King of Trutk 99 

(c) Here arc two grave errors— a low opinion 
of his father, and a high -wrought self-esteem. 

And now observe. These twin false estimates 

he was jealous to retain. He gave them up re- 

luctantly. Not till every penny and every friend 
were gone did his opinions change. 

Fancy this — the daily fight to hold these erring 
views, as day by day new losses, new betrayals, 
and new disgrace trooped home to sober down his 
folly. But he would not revise his estimates. 
He clung to his distorted views till everything was 
forever lost. 

2. And now, after his rude career is done, and all 
is lost, and he has sunk to be a low-down hireling in 
an alien land, hungry and disgraced, behold these 
errors yield their place, and Truth possess her 
throne. 

(a) He "comes to himself." 

Imagine this most carefully. To start with, 

he adjudged himself a prince, deserving deference 
and friends. But now he sees himself a fool, de- 
serving only to be a slave. He sees that he has no 
skill to gather wealth, no qualities to win sure 
friends, no fitness to figure as his father's son. 
He sees himself disrobed, forsaken, incompetent 
to regird his life. He sees himself. Unsup- 
ported, unbefriended, unadorned, robbed of all 
prestige, in rags and beggary and shame, he sees 
himself. 

Thus he sees the truth. He sees the stern and 
plain reality, unvarnished, undisguised. Here is 
one strong teaching in this fancy scene. So Je- 

sus gets down to Truth — a hard invincibility, a 
man's real self, as he shows up, emerging from a 
career of sin. 

(b) He forms a new opinion of his father. 
And the first working of this new view is to 

drive him straight for home. Here is something 

L.ofC. 



ioo Jesus 

wholly new. And it • is something deeply true. 
The forces playing now pay fine respect for father- 
hood. His nature and his behaviour and his fa- 
ther's work are in tune. And the key is Truth. 

(c) And he tells the truth. lie hides nothing 
any more. Vain pride is gone. False honor 
yields. Pretense departs. Reluctance to ad- 

mit the sad reality is spent. He is in downright 
earnest to tell the truth, the honest truth, truth un- 
disguised, truth at- its very worst. 

This vigorous inward push towards honesty de- 
mands close study. Here is repentance. And 
its inmost spring is Truth. 

3. So the Master paints Repentance. Its cor- 
ner-stone is Truth. It is a glorious transforma- 
tion out of error and pretense into true insight and 
honesty. For any sinner it is the light of all 
true seeing, the norm of all right living, the only 
open, straight-out path to peace. It is rectitude, 
correcting every waywardness. It is righteous- 
ness, accepting every penalty. It is sincerity, 
dismissing all pretense. It is an accurate re- 
adjustment, setting every conflict and discord into 
a harmony of all the Truth in God and man. 
Truth that was banished and disliked is honorably 
reinthroned. 

Such is Repentance, as bodied forth by Christ. 
It is crooked waywardness set straight. It is 
the training of false lips to strict veracity. It 
is owning Truth's real royalty. 

So beautiful and honorable and precious is 
Repentance — a heavenly gem inlaid in Truth. 



The King of Trutti ioi 

Just what to do. 

i. Talk about this lad's false estimates. 

2. Show how the Truth seemed painful to him. 

3. Show how he struggled against plain facts. 

4. Show the awful havoc (A his error. 

5. Show how his views worked straight. 

6. Talk about his new views about his father. 

7. Show the dishonesty of impenitence. 

8. Show the strong wholesomeness of Truth. 

9. Talk over Gen. 37 and 42. 

10. Commit to memory Psalm 51: 1-6. 



102 Jesus 



LESSON XXIV 

Truth as the Girdle of Prayer 
Luke 18: 1-8. 

1. Here Jesus is showing how powerful is prayer. 
He invents an illustration. He draws a fancy- 
sketch of a moral siege. 

(a) The stronghold is a judge. He holds a 
high, strong citadel of authority, where his opinion 
reigns supreme. He stands in no fear of God. 
He has no respect for man. He is a law unto 
himself, arbitrary, iniquitous, sovereign. 

(b) The assailant is a widow, humble, friend- 
less, weak. An enemy is defrauding her. He 
is a foe to righteousness. He thinks he can 
make iniquity prevail over her weak widowhood. 
But the widow knows her right. She resents 
the wrong. She pleads for justice. 

(c) One central feature in this scene is "jus- 
tice." It echoes up repeatedly. The "adver- 
sary" is literally an "antagonist of justice." The 
judge is "unjust." The prayer is to be 
"avenged," i. e. literally, "bring justice out of 
this." 

(d) Another central feature is the widow's per- 
sistence. She assails the judge "continually." 
She will not submit. Time and again she re- 
appears and reasserts her right. Time and again 
she pushes in to reiterate and resent her wrong. 
She is right and she persists. This is all her 
refuge and resource. 



The King of Truth io3 

(e) And this IS omnipotent. It overcomes 

the judge. Heartless and irreverent and power- 

ful as he is, he surrenders at last. The widow 

wears him out. He has no endurance that can 
match the endless pressure of her plea. She is 
inherently eloquent, always ingenious, past an- 
swering, predestined to prevail. 

2. Snch is this parable. Do not forget that it 
is a parable. But now explore for its meaning. 
Jesus is hiding here a deep design. 

(a) Truth endures. It has an omnipotent 
grip. Nothing can make its grasp relax. This 
high-seated judge could never persuade this widow 
to let go. Her case was right. And she hung 
on forever. 

Such is Truth's honor. No negligence can 
ever reduce its worth. No measure of abuse 
can ever change its glory into shame. Truth 
can never possibly be impeached. It keeps its 

crown. No judge can frown it out of court for 
good. It is sure to reappear, imperial, majes- 

tic, glorious as the sun. 

Truth can outlast many lies. No doubt ex- 
cuses and false explanations swarmed about the 
lips of that unwilling judge. But the unattended 
presence of shining, simple Truth can drive out 
all the lies, though they come in squads. No lie 
can outgaze the steady glance of Truth. Truth 
is eternal. 

(b) Truth has ample competence. There is 
no emergency it cannot meet. 

This widow stood without support. Really 

she needed none. Her case was just; and jus- 
tice was her exhaustless confidence. Whatever 
trick her truthless foe might play, the plain recital 
of her integrity was ample every time for refuge 
or assault. However witnesses to falsehood 
might multiply, the simple light of her veracity, 



io4 Jesus 

when once it smote upon their lies, would triumph 
every time like fresh reserves. 

Truth is armored on every side. And Truth 
searches everywhere. In the face of Truth 
knavery is forever impotent. 

(c) Truth is a line enheartener. It repeat- 

edly rescues from despair. 

This widow's lot was hard. Her husband and 
lord and champion and best friend was dead. 
The foe she faced was greedy, wicked and stout 
to do her wrong. And when she brought her 
contest to the judge, he spurned her cry, and made 
a mock at rectitude. And this kept on. Re- 
peated efforts failed repeatedly. It was a dis- 
couraging case. 

But truth made her brave. She grew a hero- 
ine. She forced the lofty judge to hear her 
cause once, and again, and again, and yet again, 
until he was driven to declare judicially that her 
contention was correct. 

3. Now mind your eye. All this is an argu- 
ment for Prayer. Prayer prevails. This is 
Jesus' claim. So He framed this parable. It 
shows a stubborn difficulty. But that difficulty 
was His precise design. He took pains to paint 
the widow's prospect dark, and all but hopeless. 
And then He lodges her success in her persistency. 
And this unwasting patience of her plea He grounds 
in equity. Her case was just. Hence she 
clung. And so she won. 



The King of Truth lo5 

Just what to do. 

i. Make a close description of this unjust judge. 

2. Describe with careful sympathy this widow's 
case. 

3. Point out minutely the secret of her power. 

4. Show the working of Truth through it all. 

5. Show just why Jesus invented it all. 

6. Cite some other similar case. 

7. Define persistence. 

8. What is the root of patience? 

g. Discuss the combination of Truth and Prayer. 

10. Talk over Hezekiah's prayer in 2 Kings, 19. 

11. Commit Psalm 31: 1-6. 



lo6 Jesus 



LESSON XXV 

The Truth About Babes 
Mark 10: 13-16. 

1« Get your eye upon these babes. Luke calls 

them "infants. " This means that, of all earth's 

little ones, these were the very least, the newest 

comers to our earthly life, unable yet to speak. 

Now see how they were esteemed. 

(a) Something about the ways and tones and 
look of Jesus encouraged and emboldened these 
mothers to lay their youngest children in His arms. 
As they took in the substance and measure of His 
thoughts, He had a heart for babes. 

(b) And note the plural. Parents clustered 
about the Lord. Mark this well. It may have 
high significance. This impulse is somehow gen- 
eral. 

(c) And this movement was continuous. Over 
and over the scene was reenacted. Parents — 
many parents — were bringing — day after day — their 
little ones to Christ. And Pie was encouraging 
the thing, and suffering it to give tone to His 
work. 

2. But now inspect the minds of Christ's dis- 
ciples. 

(a) They "rebuked" those parents. There 
rests a weighty word. It carries a judicial ring. 
It echoes from the court-room. It implies a pon- 
dering of values with nice care. It suggests 
their measured sense of superior authority, of 
sober, balanced judgment. 



The King of T ratty ioy 

(b) And they joined in the rebuke. It was 
not the act of one or two. The full momentum 
of the Apostolic band was in the remonstrance. 

(c) And it was repeated. ()nee and again, and 
yet again, they registered seriously their profound 
displeasure. They set themselves to light the 
movement down. 

Here stands the case. So do views of Truth 

diverge. And the case concerns the tenderest 
interest of our human life. 

3* Now hear the Lord. He is King of Truth. 
And no profounder problem ever waited on His 
lips. A mighty process is stirring in His soul. 

Try to understand how His judgment sets to work. 
His words are few. But they embody a rebuke, 
an appeal, an argument, a philosophy. They tell 
the truth about a little child. And in that sim- 
ple truth for babes they contain the truth for great- 
est men. 

(a) "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.'' This 
is an axiom. It undergirds all Jesus says. It 
lays a base for kingly argument. It is a mas- 
ter-key, piercing and opening many problems. It 
opens to the nature of a child, the nature of a 
perfect man, the nature of God's Kingdom. Few 
sayings of our Lord have deeper plunge, or wider 
range, or firmer support. In the Kingdom of 
God little children are the type. And in that 
happy realm no other type can come. This is an 
elemental, all-supporting truth. 

(b) "Forbid them not." This is a high be- 
hest. But see what holds it up and makes it 
firm. In God's Kingdom little children have the 
central place. They are its normal membership. 
Therefore do not restrain them. In such an im- 
perial argument is lodged this imperial prohibition. 
Be sure to get this nakedly plain. 

(c) "Suffer them to come." Here is an in- 
finitely engaging appeal. And it rests upon the 



108 Jesus 

same sure base. Children are prime candidates 
for God's Kingdom. Therefore let them come. 

What imperial grace! What imperial authority! 
But see the imperial verity in which it stands. 
What a word for parents! 

(d) "Only such can come." If one is "not 
as a little child/' he shall "not enter therein." 
Here are deep, far-ranging words. But they are 
neither dim nor faint. They are passing strong 
and plain. They are a King's decree. Wise 
men will con them well. They show the gate to 
life. They close and open at once. They state 
the last alternative. What an unveiling of Truth, 
at once ideally simple, and infinitely profound. 
And these words are anything but glib and easy 
cant. They are strong and hard, like iron and 
granite; severe and solid enough for the most 
exacting and sincere, but so mellow and kind as to 
leave unstirred the slumbers of a babe. W T hat 
thoughts for Sunday Schools! 

(e) "And He took them in His arms." This 
culminates the scene. Christ's talk is not mere 
teaching theory. It lives. It acts. It ful- 
fills. Observe this closely. Jesus encircles 
little babes. Here is the whole of it. This 
fully meets the parents' longing wish. This fully 
finishes the disciples' reproof. This demonstrates 
the proper place for infants. Their natural rest- 
ing place is in the enfolding arms of Christ, the 
Saviour of the world. 

It is all a perfect picture of perfect Truth for 
men, saving, royal, plain. 



The King of Truth 109 

Just what to do. 

1. Show the accuracy of these parents' instincts. 

2. Show the accuracy ^\ these parents' insight. 

3. Lay open all Jesus' thought about a babe. 

4. Show how tlu.se disciples felt and thought. 

5. Try to explain their error. 

6. Try to show all the value of a little child. 

7. How much does Jesus plainly say? 

8. How much does Jesus merely hint? 
g. What teaching values has a hint? 

10. Tell the story of Samuel — i Sam. cc. 1-3. 

11. Commit to memory Psalm 92: 12-15. 



no Jesus 



LESSON XXVI 

Truth Fingering a Snare 
Luke 20: 1-8. 

1 Paint the occasion. Jesus was in a very 

public place, at a swarming feast, wielding His 
amazing influence strikingly. He faces swelling 
crowds. And as He talks, He compels respect. 

This stirs a challenge. Other teachers are on 
hand. They have been wont to rule these 
throngs and win their deference. And this old 
prestige of theirs they have learned to guard. 
So they challenge Jesus to show His papers, and 
prove His right to teach. 

But Jesus has never bowed to them or to any 
man or school. He never rests His work and 

word on human warrant. All His right and 

power are His very own, inherent, original with 
Himself, underived from them. It is a crisis, 

imminent, acute. Hence their query. This is 
the situation. 

2. Jesus could have answered easily. Often 
and many times He explained explicitly this very 
point. But now He turns and takes a different 

path. He makes no answer, direct or indirect. 

He questions them instead. He asks them their 
opinion of John. On their own pretensions, they 
were just the men to form and render such an 
estimate. This counter-query holds these high 

examiners right up to their own pretense. It is 
completely fair. But it turns the tables utterly. 
It is a swift and pressing test of their sincerity. 



The King of Truth 1 1 1 

To save their faces, they must answer something. 
They step aside for conference. They must 

preserve their dignity. But they must make 

haste. For a crowd is looking on, as v. i shows. 
They soon discover that they are caught. No 

fair and straight reply is possible, without betray- 
ing before the multitude an untenable point of 
view. And then an honest statement of their 
view of John would prove they had no need to 
question Christ. Every way, they were in a 
trap. And so they said they did not know what 
they thought of John. 

This shows their trickery. They were not 
seeking light. They were dodging it. In fact, 
their opening question was intended as a trap for 
Christ. It was, at root, all rank dishonesty. 

3. Now explore that question for its central 
traits. 

(a) It was born of indocility. Think. These 
leaders were unwilling to accept Christ's words. 
They hated His broad democracy. They were 
averse to His strict inner probity. They disliked 
His call for sacrificial love. They could not bear 
His fine spiritual purity. They had no stomach 
for repentance. They resented His sharp intoler- 
ance of pride. They could not bear His lash on 
sin. Dislike of Truth was their central fault. 

(b) Their method takes the form of treachery. 
This is inevitable in such men with such a task. 
When enemies of Truth try to outwit Christ, their 
prone and fitting method is to lay a snare. So 
they play the traitor. So did Satan. So did 
Judas. 

(c) They suppose and anticipate that Jesus' 
own explanation will prove His trap. This is 
idiotic. Christ is straightforward everywhere. 
He never doubles on His tracks. His words and 
deeds are always right and parallel. He is in- 



112 Jesus 

capable of crookediu He was never known to 

play, now fast, now loose. His sayings all agree. 
No words of His conflict. To try to tangle Jesus 
in His own true speech is a poor device. But such 
is the best wisdom of dishonesty. Crooked, devi- 
ous and inconsistent itself, it deems Truth a blind, 
lame wanderer, easy to delude, easy to confuse, 
easy to entrap. But no word of Jesus aids a 

knave. Here is something solemnly grand. 

(d) This case discloses that dishonesty cannot 
be taught. Jesus would not reply. His Truth 
craves honest hearers. To open minds He con- 
fides most gladly, freely all His heart. He loves 
to tell them all. But knaves must quit their 

knavery, ere He will teach. Here is something 

sovereign. They who learn the Truth must love 
the Truth. They who deal in plots are left to 
their own snares. 

4. Their scheme miscarries utterly. Their as- 
sault was deadly. But Jesus held right on. The 
questioners themselves had to take to rout. 

Now study Jesus' weapons. You can find 
him wielding nothing but integrity. He asked an 
honest answer. That was all he did or said. 
What a scene! Simple honesty is invincible. 
And its reach and rush are infinite. It soon com- 
mands all the field. 

But dishonesty, when it tries to undermine 
Christ's Truth, exposes either flank, forfeits all its 
ground, and has to flee. 



The King of Truth II J 

Just what to do. 

i. Make sure to get acquainted with these priests 

and scribes. 

2. Find out their chief concern — themselves or 
Truth? 

3. Show up their diplomacy. 

4. Describe their fix in vv. 5-6. 

5. Explain just how Jesus routed them. 

6. Fancy what the listening crowd would 
think. 

7. What was the secret of Jesus' skill here? 

8. Try to show how treachery and honesty 
wrestle. 

9. Talk over Rabshakeh's speech in 2 Kings 18. 

10. Commit to memory Psalm 36: 7-12. 



/ 1 4 Jesus 



LESSON XXVII 
A Typical Intrigue 
Matt. 26: 1-50. 

1. This lesson is a painful study, distressing 
every way. But it cries aloud to be closely 
scanned. 

(a) The plot was devised by men of high and 
leading place. The chief priests were in the 
scheme. Elders helped it on. It was outlined 
in the hall of Caiaphas. 

(b) The plot was laid with thoughtful care. 
They used their keenest wits. They had re- 
peated discussions. They carried it forward in 
formal consultation, just like reverend senators. 

(c) It was hedged in by timidity. Jesus was 
in fact swinging the throngs. And these plot- 
ters moved in deadly fear of antagonizing the pub- 
lic passions. This timidity operated powerfully 
to shape their designs to execution. 

(d) Their end was murder. They did not in- 
tend to rest their case with mere rebuke, imprison- 
ment or banishment. Nothing short of Jesus' 
certain death could fully ease their mind. 

(e) Their method was intrigue. This is the 
key word. They were not straightforward. 
They aimed to keep all their devices dark. No 
one should know what was being done, or how or 
when its final blow should fall. 

(f) It was helped forward by one of the Twelve. 
For their right hand they engaged a traitor. 



The King of Trutk US 

So there was a joining of plots, a deepening of 
wily, dark intrigue, both parties steeped in guile — 
an awful compound of secrecy, timidity and trcach- 
ery. 

(g) And now they skin their eyes, gazing 
through the days, and scanning all the hours to 
hud the darkest moment to secretly spring their 
devil's trap — the priests and gray-haired elders 
narrowly eyeing the crowd; and Judas spying upon 
his Master's steps; all thinking to smartly elude 
the throng, and outwit the unsuspecting Christ. 

2. But now read vv. 21-25. See how Jesus 
penetrates their guile. The King of Truth is a 
prime detective. A traitor betrays himself. It is 
of the nature of Truth to uncover and see. It is 
of the nature of trickery to get exposed. 

3. But study Judas, as he withdraws. His name 
and fate are fixed forever by the wise and honest 
Christ, while yet he thinks his wicked treachery 
closely hid in his perverted heart. And so he 
parts from the holy, lordly, patient Christ, but with 
the burden of an unspeakable woe. He had bet- 
ter never have been born. 

But he goes right on to execute his sin. Know- 
ing that Jesus' eye has pierced his guile, he tracks 
its crookedness through to its terrible end. Study 
into this. The sublime patience of Truth; the 
blind folly of deceit. In such supreme endur- 
ance does Truth move on. And in such supreme 
infatuation does treachery hold its slaves. Hav- 
ing made a compact with a lie, a man will brave 
the darkest horrors, and spurn the kindest warnings, 
to keep his falsehood fast. So Jesus stands; and 
so Judas pushes on. 
£• Now watch the plot unfold. 

Jesus was wont to court seclusion, after the stress 
of life. So he often sought Gethsemane. 

This propensity Judas knows. And so he fits 
Christ's tender innocence to his hard villainy. 



Il6 Jesus 

Here the crowds are gone. Now the time is shel- 
tering night. Fit place anci time, so the traitor 
feels, for hell's own knavery. And so he tells the 
murderous priests, takes their soldiery and servants, 
— a motley mob, with arms and lamps — and sallies 
out, as though to terrorize and trap earth's slyest, 
fiercest criminal. 

Just here is a bitter ingredient for Christ. And 
its bitterness lies in its falsity. This blaring ado 
of swords and spears and lamps belies the nature 
and behaviour of the true and quiet Christ. He 
is not a bully or a renegade, spreading terror and 
eluding light. He is most open and peaceable 

and mild. He could be arrested any day without 
a blade or torch. The implication that He is 

dangerous and hard to catch, offends His open, 
peaceful heart. And He flings it back with en- 
ergy. It holds a bald and malicious lie. 

But then, that kiss! Look! There .is the 
king of treachery enacting the high tragedy of per- 
fidy against the King of eternal faithfulness. It 
is an ultimate scene. Untruth could go no fur- 
ther. 



The King of Tnitk III 

Just what to do. 

1. Show vividly all Jesus' shining openness. 

2. Show vividly the dark secrecy of these plot- 
ters. 

3. Show the incongruity of frankness and in- 
trigue. 

4. Show how being trapped would wound the 
Lord. 

5. Show the cowardice of this knavery. 

6. Show how Jesus is without defence in such 
assaults. 

7. Name the traits of Judas. 

8. Can intrigue damage an honest man? 

9. Talk over Jeremiah 37. 

10. Commit Psalm 41: 7-10. 



Il8 Jesus 



LESSON XXVIII 

Peter's Lie 
Luke 22: 54-62. 

1. Make careful arrangement of the facts. 

(a) Christ and Peter were close friends. Peter 
had been close by Jesus in many a Galilean scene. 
For long and openly Peter had been enrolled as 
Jesus' follower and admirer and devotee. 

(b) Peter's presence in this particular scene was 
the immediate outcome of his devotion and dis- 
cipleship. He loved his Lord sincerely, ardently. 
He was anxious in his heart about his Master's 
fate. It was precisely this passionate solicitude 
that lured him into the circle of this fateful scene. 
It was his purpose to stand by Jesus faithfully. 
Fine honor governed him. 

(c) But Jesus stood in bonds. Manacles 
were on His hands. Civil officers surrounded 
Him. He figured as a criminal. Peter was not 
prepared for such apparent impotence in Christ. 
All his Lord's pretensions to heavenly power and 
royalty seemed abandoned. His Master's majes- 
ty was eclipsed. His authority put to rout. 
Poor Peter was bewildered, overwhelmed. 

2. Now follow the hard pathway of Peter's fall. 
(a) An unlucky thrust smote him in the face in 

the height of his distress of heart and mind. An 
innocent maid, with a close, attentive eye, and 
with contempt for Jesus in her tone, pointing to 
Jesus in the deeps of His disgrace, charged Peter 



The King of Trutk Iig 

tauntingly with being a follower of the Nazarene. 
uld not bear the sudden taunt. He 
grew suddenly ashamed. And in that instant's 
dash, of shame he denied discipleship, once, and 
twice, and thrice— twice with aths. 

Here Peter parts with Truth. He affirms a 
horrid lie. And he dare- to fortify his falsity 
with a frightful persistence of all but religious so- 
lemnity. 

\b) This painful lapse from honor deserves a 
inspection. Study into it. To start with, 

Peter had left his shield. He had not kept hold 
.ith. He abjured the Truth. Jesus had- re- 
peatedly foretold these scenes. But Peter would 
not believe. Study Matt. 16: 21-23. Hence he 
faced this scene unarmored. 

(c) Peter was too proud. He could not bear 
to see his champion submit to shame on any 
ground. To see Jesus ride in splendor would 
have pleased him well. Then he would have 
owned Him proudly, gladly. . But cross-bearing 
he could not stomach. Hence his falsehood to 
the maid. It was born of cowardice. Truth 
calls for bravery. One must be ready any mo- 
ment to suffer hard reproach rather than tell a 
lie. 

(d) Peter's inner eye was blind. 

Jesus' guise throughout that scene was supernal- 
ly beautiful. His patience and quietness w T ere 

ideal. His self-mastery beseemed a King. And 
His inner intention through it all made every pos- 
ture heavenly. His mission involved an awful 
sacrifice; and He w-as enduring His appointed lot 
with grandest loyalty. As He stood there in 

those bonds He w r as a radiant pattern of calmness, 
tenderness and fidelity. 

But for all this beauty Peter had no seeing eye. 
He stood there as though an untutored churl, heed- 



120 Jesus 

less, truthless, blind. Hence his cruel faithless- 
ness. 

(e) Peter was a foolish reasoner. His de- 
nial was a device. It was a sort of barricade 
flung up for shelter. But such a lie is a faint and 
thin defence. His very dialect betrayed him. 
And right close by stood the kinsman of the very 
man whose ear Peter's sword had cleft. His lie 
was pitifully incompetent. 

And then the Truth stood there rock-fast. No 
squad of lies and oaths could ever annihilate the 
fact. His past discipleship could not be undone. 
That Truth held good persistently. Peter all 
but lost his wits, when he broke with Truth. 

(f) Peter was imprudent. He failed to look 
ahead. By denying Jesus he thought to dodge 
a taunt. But that lying shift placed him in far 
deeper shame. He had to face the sorrowing 
eye of Christ. He did not foresee. He took 
no heed. His awful plunge into awful falsehood 
was taken in the dark. 

3. Now study what ensued. It all lies bosomed 
in that look of Jesus. — Luke 22: 61. That look 
was radiant and eloquent and urgent with a teem- 
ing world of Truth. 

And how it inspected and encompassed Peter! 
It shot him through and through. How he 
wished he could undo his lie! But there his base 
denial stood, immovable, blameworthy, horrible, 
false. 

Such is Peter's lie. It has done no good. 
It has done deep hurt. It has filled Jesus and 
Peter with anguish indescribable. 

So hateful, so hurtful, so futile, so hell-born is 
a lie. 



The King of Truth 121 

Just what to do. 

1. Try to tell JUSI how Jesus looked. 

2. Try to tell just how Peter felt. 

3. Show Peter's real devotion to Jesus. 

4. Show Peter's bitter disappointment and dis- 
tress. 

5. Show how he was surprised and over- 
whelmed. 

6. Show Peter's want of thorough faith. 

7. Show Peter's shallow insight. 

8. Tell all you can about those lies of Peter. 

9. Tell all you can about that look of Jesus. 

10. Read Numbers 11. 

11. Commit to memory Psalm 130: 1-5. 



122 Jesus 



LESSON XXIX 

Proving an Innocent a Criminal 
Mark 14: 53-65. 

1. Here Jesus stands on trial for His life. He 
is arraigned before a court of justice. To all ap- 
pearance these reverend dignitaries, sitting in 
judgment on the Lord, are earth's prime exponents 
of honor and equity. They seem to seek only 
truth, to be prying only after facts. The out- 
side guise of everything speaks of order, law, and 
careful rectitude. 

But it was all a fraud. They had no cer- 
tain charge. They had no case. They had no 
evidence. They had no facts. 

Their captive was the harmless, honest, guile- 
less, faultless, holy Christ. To conduct one single 
short-lived session of a criminal court against 
such a person, it was of necessity that every shred 
of the proceeding should be patched together out 
of sheer pretense. Every syllable that was 
fashioned on those lips was pure dissimulation. 

2. Observe their hunt for witnesses. They had 
to hunt. That is a dark reality. They branded 
Him a malefactor. And then they scrambled and 
blundered about in the dark to find some man to 
tell what evil He had done. 

Eut when the men were found who dared to 
testify to Christ's crime, every witness had to lie. 
Christ had done no crime. Every witness swore 
to falsehood. And their very falsehoods quar- 

reled. 



The King of Truth 123 

3. Then the judge sot out to upbraid the Lord 
for holding Still. He tried to prod the Master 

into Speech. But Jesus knew. The whole af- 

fair was transparent sham, unworthy of reply. 
And as for refutation, it refuted itself. It stood 

there an open, undeniable, indefensible tissue of 
untruth. And Jesus would not say a word. A 
sublime diselosure of the mighty majesty of hon- 
esty, when assailed by lies. 

4. Now all these lying witnesses, and all their 
lying words, are sent spinning out of court, as the 
high priest Mings himself around, and confronts 
Jesus with a high-sounding adjuration to tell who 
He is. "Art thou the Messiah, the Son of the 

Blessed?" This turn proves the court an empty 
whirligig, void of ballast or plan. But for all 
that, it is an act of weightiest significance. The 
court forsakes its refuge of lies, and appeals with 
high solemnity to Jesus Himself, the fountain-head 
of Truth. 

5. And now at last, for once, unclouded Truth 
shall pour its pure, full glory through that Jewish 
hall. Jesus speaks. He bears witness to Him- 
self. Not a quaver or quibbling is in His tone or 
testimony. Each syllable rings clear. He 

avows Himself the Son of God, and Son of Man, 
destined to ride in heavenly majesty of honor and 
might. 

(a) Tarry here. Gather in all these reverber- 
ations. They are the voice of Truth. It is 
Truth under oath. It tells who Jesus is. It 
affirms His deep affinity with God and man, His 
transcendant power and dignity, and His easy lord- 
ship over all space and time. Ponder this. It 
is unmuffled Truth. Here all Truth's glory is un- 
veiled. 

(b) Feel the tension here. It is positively in- 
finite. All paltering now has to cease. The 



124 Jesus 

supreme issue is here. Jesus forces final judg- 
ment. The court must find its mind forthwith. 
It must speak. And it must show its full con- 
clusion in the full glory of full-spoken Truth. 

(c) That was an awful crisis. Get it before 
your heart. The Sanhedrin formed the jury. 

Jesus was their culprit. And He was their only 
honest witness. And His outright, resonant 

claim to heaven's own Sonship and authority was 
the solitary fact in evidence. 

6. And now the verdict falls. The nimble 
priest votes Jesus' utterance a deadly blasphemy. 

And now they cover the noble Master w r ith vile 
contempt. Watch their way. It is the ran- 
cour of dishonored lies struggling madly to make 
the comeliness of pure Truth seem foul and ugly. 
They spit upon His Majesty. They seal the ra- 
diance of His eyes. They buffet His forbearance 
with clenched fists. They smite His lordliness 
with the open palms of rude slaves. They 
broadly ridicule His wisdow with jibes. They 

tax their ingenuity to match His every attestation 
with the liar's only refutation, a hollow mockery. 

Thus unbelief and falsity work into shape their 
final verdict upon the fair face of Truth. 






The King of Truth 125 

Just what to do. 

1. Talk over a prosecution without a crime. 

2. What to do to doom a criminal who is in- 
nocent ? 

3. How should an innocent plaintiff behave? 

4. How will Truth work among deceivers? 

5. Talk about the shiftiness of lies. 

6. Talk about the constancy of Truth. 

7. Draw your carefullest portrait of those Jews. 

8. Draw your carefullest portrait of Jesus. 

9. Read over the trial of Paul — Acts 22-24. 

10. Commit Psalm 37: 23-27. 



126 Jesus 



LESSON XXX 

The King of Truth 
John 18: 28-40. 

1. In entering this lesson, hold in mind four 
things. 

First. The Jews had tried to incriminate Jesus 
by the word of witnesses. But their testimony 
clashed. 

Second. Then they turned to Jesus and tried to 
lure Him to incriminate Himself. This seemed 
to work their wish. They convict Him, on His 
own words, of blasphemy. This warrants them, 
they all agree and vote, in putting Him to death. 

Third. When they faced the Roman governor, 
they named no definite crime. They even re- 
sented Pilate's demand that they name Jesus' fault. 
They declared Him a malefactor who ought to die. 
But the basis on which they formed their verdict, 
they would not disclose. 

Fourth. But Pilate pressed his call, and under 
the governor's stringency, they finally named 
Christ's crime. But now it is wholly new. All 
their careful court formality they kick one side 
themselves. And now they say His guilt roots 
in insurrection. Jesus is working for the head 
of Caesar, with a view to wearing Caesar's crown. 

Keep these four shifts right in your hand. 
Those four facts form all the comment needed 
on the judicial gravity and honesty of that Jewish 
court. Keep close to the exact reality. Jesus 
was without any wickedness of any measure or 



The King of Truth 12,-j 

kind. Those gray-haired jurors were without an 

ounce of honesty in all their ease. Not a wit- 

ness told the truth. No two witnesses agreed. 

Deal rightly here. See that the edges of your 
talk run straight. This is no place for mincing 
and trying to be too nice. These men were 
knaves. They were no dupes. Their moral 
crookedness was designed. They set themselves 
against the Truth. Think into this. 

Jesus was absolutely pure and kind and true. 
He was filled with native majesty. But He was 
a constant pattern of humility. And this was all. 
But all of this those judges cordially abhorred. 
They w r ere bound to see Him slain. And nothing 
was too black or bad to serve their turn. And 
their method all sums up in these two words: They 
stood against all Truth. They welcomed any lie. 

2* But Pilate has to act. That charge of civil 
insurrection disturbs his thought. High treason 
may be lurking there. So he quizzes Jesus about 
being a King. 

(a) Watch Jesus here. He does not answer. 
He is thinking, querying. He knows in His heart 
this latest feint to be a wholesale lie. But He 
will have Pilate say who started it. Mark this. 
See how Jesus turns His burning eye full on that 
slippery lie, tracing down with careful accuracy its 
slimy trail. 

(b) But Pilate feels little patience here. He 
makes short work of tracking down the charge. 
He seeks Jesus' own assertion. Stop right here. 
This is another momentous scene. The King of 
all verity is about to bear witness to Himself. 
You have need of all your eyes and ears. 

(c) Jesus makes reply: Grant I claim to be a 
King. That means' no civil treason. This is 
obvious. Review my servants. Fill their 
ranks, and have them file before you for review. 



128 Jesus 

They do not fight. They have no arms. We 
are all and altogether innocent of war. I am a 
Prince of peace. 

What an honest, artless answer! Study it. 

Find its basis. Trace its logic. State its force. 

(d) But Pilate is disturbed. Jesus seems to 
more than hint at being King. His meaning 

must come clear. So he quizzes Him again. 

Are 3'ou, after all, a King? 

3. Here comes marching forth our Master's most 
majestic affirmation. Hear it roll and ring. Learn 
to separate its notes. There are echoes here in 
Pilate's hall of every eulogy of every phase of 
Truth that Jesus ever spoke; and pointed thrusts 
at every show of lies and unbelief that Jesus ever 
had to face. In this short confession is the 
whole sum of Jesus' life. Catch every syllable. 

I am a King. And I am on a true King's enter- 
prise. I am here to show the absolute sover- 
eignty of Truth. Truth is my only pride and 
trust. She voices my decrees. She wins and 
trains my followers. She forges all our weaponry. 
She guards us all when lies assail. She leads each 
attack. Truth gives my crown its only glory, and 
my throne its only support. 

Such is my realm and such are its insignia. 
And all who love pure Truth are my citizens and 
followers. All honest people I befriend. And 
all such people honor me. They hail me King. 
We mutually agree. Truth-loving souls and I are 
bound in a free, eternal league. Eternal loyalty 
reigns immortal in our every oath. Indeed I am a 
King. My realm is glorious in verity and equity 
and faith. 

But my glory is pure Truth. So I hate all 
lying. False witness I abh(3r. I loathe hypoc- 
risy. Dishonesty I cannot endure. With men 
who cheat and simulate I have no fellowship. 



The King of Truth 1*9 

Crookedness and ambiguity and guile my soul de- 
tests. I mourn unceasingly all unbelief. 

4, Here is a faithful witness in very deed. And 
here is a royal proclamation, too. Here is the 
Sovereign King. Here is the full glory of Truth. 
Behold it with an open faec. See the beautiful 
face of Truth in the beautiful person of Jesus. 
Note three prime traits. 

(a) Its revelation is explicit. Here shines an 
orb of light. Jesus is like the noon. He is 
passing clear. No man need err or doubt. 
Everything stands plain. 

(b) Its voice is gentle. Here is no crash and 
roar of trumpets and arms. This King forever 
reigns in peace. Truth, as it rules in Jesus, is 
never noisy, rude, or quarrelsome. All her re- 
cruits come freely. He makes no use of swords 
or chains. The kingliness of Jesus' Truth is un- 
failingly a perfect pattern of gracious courtliness. 

(c) It is grandly regal. The Truth of Christ 
is strong. It knows no fear. As Jesus faces 
Pilate, he stands unblenched. He knows the 
governor's authority. He knows the awful 
cross is looming near. But he doesn't pale or 
quake. His calmness is like the silent sky. 
And its shining is like the sun. Its rising can- 
not be stayed. It conquers every eclipse. It 
streams everywhere. And so it stands a victor. 
Jesus' veracity can outgeneral any host of lies. 
His eternal honesty can outwear all intrigue. 
His unvarying accuracy can rout armies of error. 
His wise good sense can counsel all untutored 
souls. He is the Prince of all the teachers of 
men. He is the Light of the world. 

Such is Jesus Christ. Being King of Truth, 
He is King indeed, His throne immutable, His crown 
imperishable, His vesture unfading, His honor in- 
corruptible, His person immortal, His reign unend- 
ing. 



l3o Jesus 



REVIEW STUDIES 

In each lesson that follows search all the lessons 
that precede to find illustrations. 

i. What Truth can you show to be embodied in 
God? 

2. What Truth can you see to be embraced in 
Jesus? 

3. How much Truth is wrought into the being of 
man? 

4. How much untruth can you find in impeni- 
tence? 

5. Cite every case that shows the strength of 
Truth. 

6. Point out each time that Jesus was unanswer- 
able. 

7. How many Gospel people show zeal for Truth? 

8. Which Gospel people show dislike of Truth? 

9. Cite instances of sincerity, frankness, direct- 
ness, simplicity. 

10. Cite instances of hypocrisy, pretense, crook- 
edness, duplicity. 

11. Cite instances of faith, docility, trust. 

12. Cite instances of unbelief, obduracy, doubt. 

13. Cite instances of insight, openness, exactness, 
honesty. 

14. Cite instances of dullness, dissimulation, in- 
trigue, guile. 

15. Cite instances of fidelity, equity, loyalty. 

16. Cite instances of perfidy, unfairness, treach- 
ery. 

17. See if you can make an enduring definition of 
Truth. 



NOV 4 »•*' 



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